Nostalgia
by rescuezelda
Summary: They haven't spoken in over a year. They haven't seen each other in a year...that's all about to change. Who would believe after all that time AJ and Punk would still feel the same way, as if they were dating just yesterday. But as things begin to get heated, AJ turns to the one man she truly loves to save her, and protect her from the danger she faces.
1. Chapter 1

NOSTALGIA – THE SEQUEL

_AJ tossed and turned in bed, trying to find a position where she was both comfortable and cool. Once again, the night was passing her by and she was losing precious time for sleeping. As she lay there, blinking she made a mental note in her mind of all the things she could be doing rather than lying here, staring at the ceiling._

_It was no use, she couldn't lie here sweaty and uncomfortable, and so she got up and decided to do some laundry. Since moving back to New Jersey, she'd bought a small house just around the corner from where her parents lived. It wasn't big at all, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms; also the perfect yard for her dog Nacho Cheese to run around in, after all he wasn't very fond of exercise._

_She pushed her feet into her furry pink slippers and held her hand over her mouth as she yawned slightly. Her body clock was all out of proportion, she did feel tired, so why couldn't she sleep? _

_Several nights AJ would lay there, in the double bed she shared, thinking about the one man she couldn't get off her mind. It'd been about a year since she'd moved on from WWE, and she never thought living a regular life could be so boring. There was no waking up to a morning routine of exercise, and no evenings filled with entertaining rowdy fans. She had even taken up Pilates on a Saturday as she had free time, since she'd usually have been at meet and greets all day. Although her mom constantly ranted to her on the phone telling her it was good to take a break, AJ was just waiting for the opportune moment to go back and get in the ring again._

_As she made her way to the bathroom, she picked up the laundry basket she kept at the top of the stairs. She shuffled her way across the hall and into the bathroom, where she sat on the floor and transferred all the dirty clothes into the basket. It was mind numbing work, but at least she was starting to cool down._

_Once the basket was filled, she made her way silently down the stairs, creeping as if she was in someone else's house. She walked through the kitchen and into the small laundry room. Placing the basket on the floor she stretched her back and flailed her arms in the air. _

_As she sighed looking at the filled washer/dryer, she lifted up the lid and proceeded to empty the dry clothing onto the floor. She picked out each item slowly, carefully admiring all her clothes. She lifted out a few t-shirts she'd got on sale at Hot Topic, before finally pulling out a t-shirt that made a large smile break out on her face._

_In her small hands, AJ held her one and only 'I dig crazy chicks' t-shirt. Gosh she loved to wear this tee so much, although, Corey didn't approve of it much._

_Yes, you heard correctly. AJ Lee had decided to move on, or so she claimed. After 6 months of being in New Jersey alone, AJ found a fellow wrestler, and struck up a romance with Ring of Honour wrestler, Corey Graves. Now, anyone that knew the couple would say they were perfect for each other, AJ however thought differently._

_She would never admit it to anyone, but she just kept Corey around because she didn't want to go back to being lonely. Sure, they'd shared a good fling together, but AJ didn't think of it as anything more, but two months later she finds he's moving into her house and she couldn't understand how things had escalated so quickly. She'd often convince herself she was in love with Corey, but her heart would ache as she flashed back on scenes of herself and Punk lying together watching a movie. _

_AJ thought about Punk a lot. She knew he'd probably got on with his own life, and probably never thought about her another day after she left, the thought of Punk moving on also persuaded her to stay with Corey. Yeah, sometimes he was a sweet guy, but he wasn't the one with the key to her heart. _

_She pulled the tee in close to her face, hoping to catch a whiff of Punk's aftershave which used to linger on the cotton. She sighed hopelessly, as now all she could smell was the washing powder. As she bit her lip, she threw the t-shirt onto the pile with all the other clean laundry._

* * *

_Punk had just returned back to the bus with Kofi and Miz after a night of 'partying'. That wasn't really Punk's scene, but as his friends had invited him along he thought why not? Who'd give up an opportunity to see a load of work colleagues making fools out of themselves whilst under the influence? Of course, Punk was still alcohol free, drug free, and he'd most recently become title free. _

_Punk dropped the title to Daniel Bryan, which had made him madder than ever, although he had to admit Bryan won the title fair and square. Kofi had convinced him not to worry about it, but he knew that Bryan plus the title equalled thoughts of AJ; after all, Punk had originally chosen the title over AJ._

_The three entered the bus, all falling on the seats in the main lounge. Punk turned the lights on and slumped down beside Kofi. _

"_Wasn't that an interesting night?" Miz said, laughing slightly._

_Kofi and Punk nodded together, "I thought I'd seen the worst of Cena drunk before, but holy shit when that man drinks too much, there's no controlling him!" Punk laughed, along with Kofi and Miz._

_The three of them lay around for a while before deciding it would be a good idea to try and get some rest. Miz left first, falling on his bunk and sleeping, still dressed in his shirt and jeans. Kofi waited to see if Punk was gonna budge, but realized that would mean waiting forever. He got up, yawning and kicking his shoes off._

"_Don't stay in here forever as usual, okay Punk? Make sure you get some rest, stop overthinking things all the time man." Kofi said softly, before turning the lights down dim and leaving._

_Punk sat on the sofa, his head was ringing from the loud music that had been inflicted into their ears for the entirety of the night. He rubbed his forehead before sitting back into the chair and kicking off his own shoes. He was eyeing up the cupboard full of glasses, deciding whether he could be bothered to get up and grab a drink or not. _

_Eventually he thought what the heck, and raised himself, hobbling over to the cupboard and pulling out a small glass. As he stood looking inside the open cupboard, he pulled one note out from the pile at the back. He held it in his palm as he turned on the tap, making sure not to drop it. He then shoved the glass under the running water, letting it fill half way before placing it down on the side so he could turn the tap back off. He stood up against the counter, now sipping the water, reading the note over and over. _

_Punk, my batman! I just found a pile of these notes I wanted to give you, but I thought you might find it childish. Oh well! I guess you'll get them some day and you'll wake up like omg AJ you're a weirdo, but we still have to share the same bed! I love you x_

_He finished off his glass of water, and placed the glass into the sink, leaving it for someone else to clear up in the morning. As he walked towards the door he took one final glance at the note before screwing it up in his hand and throwing it in the direction of the bin._

"_That's four." Punk mumbled._

_Punk had found it rough to get over AJ, but of course he didn't let anyone else know that. Every time Kofi brought her up he acted as if he didn't care, but that was the biggest lie of the century. Thoughts of AJ would keep him awake at night, and he was starting to piss himself off as he hated thinking about her. He was constantly in an inner battle with himself, so he thought the best thing to do would be to get rid of everything that reminded him of her, so he started with the notes, disposing one every time he went to the cupboard._

_At first Punk managed to convince himself it was working, but even he couldn't keep that up. He began to start regretting throwing them away, but by keeping them he thought of himself as weak. So every night as he lay in bed awake, he'd still think of her, she was all he ever thought of. He wondered if he'd ever see her again, but then again, he had no idea how he'd handle that sort of situation._

_Punk thought he was doing a good job of showing he didn't care, little did he know Miz and Kofi could see right through him, and would have regular discussions about the situation when he wasn't around. Miz had tried contacting AJ to try and convince her to come back, but she refused, saying she needed to start new. They knew they had tugged some heartstrings however, because each time they asked, it would take longer for her to say she wouldn't return, clearly she was thinking about it. Kofi and Miz just hoped it would be soon, because even after a year Punk was still falling downhill, rapidly._

* * *

**Welcome all readers, previous and new! This is my new fic, Nostalgia. **

_**Nostalgia ; a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.**_

**This fic is a sequel to _Stay Forever, _but if you haven't read that don't worry! You'll be able to pick up the storyline easily! But if you want to, be sure to go back and read it and review :) or if not, just pm me and I'll let you know the basics. ****I won't be updating this fic until (probably) the 18th Jan, so please be patient, I've got a lot to do haha, but make sure to review this chapter and let me know what you think so far! Enjoy :)**


	2. Chapter 2

AJ sat at the breakfast bar in the pure white kitchen, swinging her legs whilst she munched on her cereal. Her little dog Nacho skidded across the wooden floor as he ran to greet Corey as he came down the stairs. His hair was flat and wet as he'd just finished his morning routine with a shower. He walked into the kitchen, ignoring Nacho jumping up to greet him, and headed for the fridge for a bowl of fruit salad.

"Morning Corey!" AJ chirped. She watched as he poured some juice over the chopped fruit in his bowl.

"Morning." He replied half heartedly, not even looking up from the counter.

AJ bit her lip and nodded to herself, he was just having a bad morning, like he did every other morning. She decided she should try and make some conversation to lighten the mood.

"What are you doing today then?" She asked, leaning her elbow on the counter and watching him closely.

"Going to the gym, then I've got asked to go on AOW."

AJ felt as though someone had thrown her off a cliff. She gulped hard, hoping Corey wasn't talking about what she thought he was, "AOW, Art of Wrestling? With Colt Cabana?"

"Mhm, so I've really gotta go." Corey replied hastily. He placed his bowl next to the sink so firmly it made a sort of clunk as it hit the surface, making AJ jump.

"See you later." He said, kissing his fingers and pushing them against AJ's forehead.

"Bye" She replied quietly, just as the door slammed behind him. She sat there for a while, wondering if Corey would ask her to go with him, of course she couldn't decline but it'd be risky in case Punk was with Cabana. What would they be doing in New Jersey anyway?

She noticed Nacho whimpering at the foot of the chair she was now swinging on, so she pulled him up onto her lap and snuggled him close. "At least I've got you buddy." She said, kissing him on the head.

After about 10 minutes of squeezing Nacho, she put him down on the floor and decided to start her day. AJ cleared up her own breakfast things and washed Corey's bowl he left behind. Then she washed down the surfaces and polished them off. It got to the point where she began to invent things for herself to do, just to keep her mind from reverting back to thoughts of CM Punk. Even Nacho was looking at her rather strange. She decided the next thing she needed to do was sort out her closet.

She bounced up the stairs with little Nacho trailing after her, and into the bedroom, opening the closet doors as wide as she could. She began to pull hangers out and admire the t-shirts, sorting them into two piles, clothes to keep and clothes to give to thrift stores. She came across many old tees she had tailored herself from back when she was wrestling. That was one thing AJ loved to do, re-design her t-shirts. All she needed was a pair of scissors and some beads and she could work wonders. She had thrown out all her old Daniel Bryan t-shirts a long time ago, but somehow one had made it into her closet and it wasn't even worth giving to charity, so she started a new pile of t-shirts to throw away. All her clean laundry she had put away previously, but decided to sort through that also. As she pulled out the final t-shirts, she held in her hand a 'In Punk We Trust' t-shirt, still a dark grey and the emblem was shiny. She held it in her fingertips for a while, feeling the fabric and sniffing the scent of clean laundry. She looked over at the thrift store pile, then back to her closet, the back to the thrift store pile. "I'm sure they've got enough from me," She said, throwing the Punk t-shirt on the keep pile.

That's what it came down to now, making excuses for her emotions. With Corey not around much there was a lot of time for AJ to be alone with her thoughts, so if she came across something that reminded her of Punk, she would make up some excuse for herself, so she knew it was just a regular thing, and not a memory of their relationship.

As AJ began to pick the clothes back up from the floor and hung them in the wardrobe, Nacho was revealed to be buried underneath. AJ laughed hard and grabbed her phone from the bed to take a photo, She took several, as Nacho attempted to jump his way out from under the mountain. AJ eventually got down on her knees and helped him out, his little tail wagging as she did so. She laughed some more and sat down on the floor cross-legged, letting him sit on her lap. She scrolled through the pictures on her phone, laughing a little at each one when she came to some images with rather vivid signs of emotion.

The first image had been taken by Kofi; it was outside the new bus. Punk had AJ on his back, holding her there as she reached to touch the top where he had got 'Best in the World' painted on.

"_I can almost touch it!" AJ squealed with delight._

"_Hurry up and take the picture Kofi, this is getting painful" Punk joked. _

"_Hey!" AJ cried, digging her feet into Punk's sides, "I'm not that heavy!"_

"_Smile guys!" Kofi called out, taking the photo._

_Punk almost dropped AJ as the flash hurt his eyes and he got rather light headed. "Okay you can let me down now." AJ said rather pleased. Punk hurled her over his shoulder and placed her firmly on the ground. Kofi handed AJ's phone back to her, "I think it's a rather insane picture, but it captures you two perfectly!" Kofi chuckled. AJ admired the picture as she slid her arm around Punk's waist, "Story of our lives huh Punk?" _

_He laughed and nodded, putting his arm around her shoulder, "Indeed it is, the misfit and the crazy chick."_

That's what the photo was labelled, 'The misfit and the crazy chick.' AJ pressed the red button which closed the photo gallery completely. She threw her phone on the floor, sitting completely still for a moment, remembering the day that photo was taken. She could feel the emotion building up inside her small frame, so she shook her head and got Nacho off her lap before standing up, brushing her knees and continuing to hang her clothes up.

Punk lay on the cushioned bench in the bus, his headphones on listening to music. Kofi was on the opposite bench playing the x-box, his favourite pastime. Punk was nodding his head along with the beat to Fall Back Down by Rancid, when the music was interrupted by a call. It was Cabana. Punk threw his headphones off and unplugged them from the input, managing to answer the phone just in time.

"What's up Cabana!" Punk said.

"Punk! How's it going? I hear you're on your way to New Jersey?"

"You'd be correct, why you there too?" Punk was entirely happy about going to New Jersey, but if one of his best friends was going to be there that was a good enough reason to drag himself from the bus for at least a day.

"As a matter of fact, I am! I wanted to know if you wanted to hook up? I'm doing a recording of AOW whilst I'm here and thought you could meet me in the studio I've been allowed to use for the day?" Cabana asked, hoping Punk would accept.

Punk rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, I guess I'll be there, if it's for you, sure! As long as we can hang out after, anyways who you got on the show?" Punk asked curiously.

"Oh that new upcoming wrestler Corey Graves, word on the street is the lad is coming over to WWE, I want to be the first to notify the fans so…" Cabana noticed Punk go extremely quiet on the other end of the line. "Punk?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, sounds awesome. Anyway, text me the address and I'll be there okay?"

"Alright seeya."

Punk hung up the phone and looked over at Kofi. "What man?" Kofi asked nervously, pausing the gameplay.

"What's the name of that guy you said has been hanging with AJ, or is rumoured to be hanging with her?" saying the sentence felt like having sand in his mouth.

"Umm, I heard his name was Corey…Corey Graves? Or something like that. Why?"

Punk bit his lip and ran his hand down his face, "Shit."

* * *

**Hey! Sorry it took so long to upload, I've been mega busy! Hope you like this chapter, and they'll be more of a focus on Punk in the next chapter that will be coming tomorrow! Don't forget to review and let me know your thoughts :))**


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay I'm officially lost man, you're gonna have to enlighten me." Kofi said nervously, he wasn't really sure he wanted to know what was going on. They hadn't been to New Jersey since Punk and AJ had split, so Kofi wasn't really sure how Punk was feeling about stepping foot in her hometown.

"Ah nothing, it's just…Cabana." Punk scratched his head, thoughts of AJ whirring around inside his mind. Some were positive, others remarkably negative. The worst thing was, he had no distinctive gut feeling on the situation, he didn't know if he wanted to see AJ or not.

Kofi looked at him rather strangely, turning his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "Dude, is this anything to do with…"

"No. No it isn't I know what you're going to say and it isn't." Punk snapped.

"Okay, okay just checking" Kofi said defensively, holding his hands up as if he was being arrested. He never knew what to say when Punk was in one of his 'moods', anything could go down as offensive. Kofi decided not to mention anything about New Jersey, or AJ for that matter.

"So what's up with Cabana? Is he touring too?"

"Think so, pretty sure he was coming here for a one off but I'm not sure. He's recording his podcast that's all I know" Punk said, now scrolling through the contacts endlessly on his phone, trying to look busy and avoid further questions he wouldn't have an answer to. Kofi watched him for a while, knowing Punk was totally unaware that Kofi knew what he was doing, but he decided not to dig at him, and returned to playing the x-box.

After scrolling up and down for a while, Punk decided to check his twitter, clicking on his mentions to see what imbecilic people had tweeted him today. There were a couple of mentions from fangirls begging him to follow them, then he noticed a few insults which he regularly received but as always he brushed them off, laughing at the bad punctuation and grammar of some people who claim to be educated. Then the further he began to scroll, more and more people began to ask about AJ. 'Do you know if AJ is returning in her hometown?', 'Is AJ in New Jersey with the WWE?' and the most common one, 'Are you the reason AJ left the WWE?'. Punk muttered some comments under his breath and closed the application, throwing his phone onto the floor. He then sat there, biting his nails and staring at the wall, sometimes travelling could be so boring.

* * *

AJ sat in the passenger seat of Corey's car. They were heading off for the studio to meet Cabana, which was across town, taking about a 30 minute drive. AJ was wearing one of her many Pikachu t-shirts with black skinnies and converse. She had pinned the left side of her hair back, letting it fall down across her shoulders, she had tried to make an effort, just in case she ran into some people she might need to impress.

The start of the car journey was very awkward, Corey focusing on the road and AJ staring out the window with boredom. She wasn't used to everything in her life being so serious. If she was in the car with Punk right now they'd be rocking out to some old punk rock bands and sniping at each other the whole way.

_Stop it AJ, stop thinking about him. _

AJ decided to turn up the radio a little, trying to find a good station to channel in to. She fiddled with the tuning knob for a while listening out for a breakthrough from the static.

"AJ can you stop, please? That's really irritating." Corey moaned, not even turning to look at her.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." AJ pulled her hand away and locked her fingers together on her lap. She sat up in her seat and watched the road disappear under the car from the front windscreen. She rolled her eyes as she was becoming really bored. She began to tap her fingers on her thighs, and kick her legs around down in front of her seat. Corey's eyebrows began to twitch, and AJ noticed him getting rather agitated, making her want to continue even more.

They turned down a small lane with no cars about. Corey hit the break as hard as he could, making the car release a screeching noise, jolting himself and AJ forward in their seats. AJ blinked a few times, rather scared of what Corey was doing. She raised her shoulders up around her neck, folding her hands on her lap and cowering her face away from him.

"Would you stop already! How am I supposed to focus on driving with you being so…so irritating!"

AJ rolled her eyes and huffed, "Well maybe if you weren't so boring, I wouldn't have to find irritating ways to entertain myself!" She turned herself away from him further, awaiting his reaction. He sighed heavily and took his hands off the wheel. "Okay, I'm sorry. Do you want to have a conversation or something?"

"That would be nice, since you barely talk to me, well ever!" AJ said stubbornly.

Corey started up the car again, and put both hands on the wheel, beginning to continue driving on their way to the studio. "Okay, well what have you been doing today?"

"Well, seeing as you've been out all morning, I rearranged my closet and took some clothes down to the thrift store." AJ said proudly, it had been a rather successful morning.

Corey huffed with relief, "Oh finally I'm going to get some more space huh!" He said. AJ noticed he meant it in a rather playful way, but she wasn't in the mood.

"Didn't have to move in, Punk didn't complain." She muttered.

_AJ skipped towards the bus, she was staying with Punk for the night. She had a small travel bag with her, which she'd squished quite a few outfits into, just in case she changed her mind in the morning. She knocked on the door lightly, stepping back and fiddling with her hair as she stared at her reflection in the glass. Punk arrived to greet her almost immediately._

_After they'd said their hello's Punk took AJ to the back lounge (he still had the old bus) and showed her where she could leave her clothes. AJ prized the bag open and tipped out the contents onto one of the sofas._

"_Holy shit! It's a good thing I don't use much space huh! Anyone would think you're moving in!" Punk rolled his eyes at AJ, rifling through her stuff, picking up several t-shirts and laughing at the child like graphics on the front._

"_Hey! I'm the type of girl who wears what mood she's in, I couldn't predict what mood I'd be in tomorrow so I packed a lot, after all I do have to spend an entire night with you!"_

Right now, spending an entire night with Punk seemed like a better idea than having to travel back home with Corey, and since AJ refused to admit she'd actually quite like to spend another night with Punk, she considered that quite a serious proposition to make.

As she continued to notify Corey on most of the things she did alone whilst he was out doing nothing, she began to think about how much time she had actually spent with Punk. Although she wouldn't admit it, she actually missed spending time with someone so alike to her, but what did that matter now, her and Punk had left each other with nothing, of course there were no mutual emotions…

* * *

**_Sorry I couldn't upload yesterday guys, I had a few problems with my internet but it's all good now! Hope this chapter was okay and you liked it! Don't forget to review and have an awesome day :)_**


	4. Chapter 4

AJ sat awkwardly on an office chair, watching Corey and Colt do their thing whilst she waited for time to pass. Her feet could just about reach the floor so she twisted herself round a little, then back again; admiring the studio they were in. It wasn't really professional, just the regular radio gadget desk in the middle but she was situated over the back in the far corner. She could see out of the door and was fantasizing about getting out of the room and fast.

"So, word on the street is that you're training back in New Jersey for an upcoming spot on the WWE roster? Am I right or am I right?" Colt asked, being his usual bubbly self. He had greeted AJ like the gentleman he was when she had arrived with Corey. He even invited her to speak a little during the interview but she declined as Corey gave her a look as if she'd be hogging his spotlight.

"Well yeah, I mean I can't say too much, but I'm definitely training for some upcoming and big new opportunities."

"Yeah- AJ thought – that's why you waste so much time away from home, leaving me behind to do the dirty work for most of the day." She rolled her eyes as Corey continued to brag about just how amazing he was, and how he was looking forward to these 'so called' fantastic opportunities he was being offered. AJ knew that was a complete lie, after all she was the one collecting the mail every morning. Corey had indeed received an offer from the WWE. They said how they wanted him in a storyline with some of the regulars like Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston and Antonio Cesaro. It also said something about the spot of the champion but AJ didn't read that far for her fear of seeing Punk's name on the paper.

"I mean, not to brag, but I think I deserve some opportunities right now. I work my ass off in the gym near enough all day every day, I'm one of the most hard working guys you'll ever meet."

_Near enough!? _AJ's blood boiled. Corey was so full of crap she could almost smell it coming out of his mouth. She continued to stare around the room, not really thinking about anything in particular. All of a sudden her trail of day-dreamy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming along the corner corridor. AJ looked up towards the doorway to see who was coming along, although her gut feeling was telling her she already knew. Turning the corner was her flawless ex, staring at his phone and stopping on the corner to reply to a text. AJ looked at him, tilting her head to the side a little. The sound blurred in her ears as she put all her attention on Punk. He raised his head and had a beaming smile on his face, a smile she had missed.

AJ grew a giant dazzling smile on her face and threw it back to him, her eyelashes flickering as she gazed into his emerald eyes. Only to her disappointment did she come to realise Colt was actually smiling too, and Punk was in fact not paying any attention to her, but was grinning at Colt. Her heart dropped and she felt like such a fool. She shook her head and turned it quickly to face the wall, now hoping Punk wouldn't see her at all. She shoved her hands under her thighs and bit her tongue inside her now closed mouth.

Punk had of course immediately noticed AJ in the corner of the room, but tried not to think about her, or make eye contact. Instead he amused himself for a few minutes by making immature faces at Colt whilst he finished up his interview. He threw himself down on the cheap couch against the wall where the door was. He looked down at his phone to check the time, and then moved his wandering eyes to AJ. He admired the side of her face. She looked as though she had been keeping well, she didn't look pale or ill. He thought about her features, her almost perfect hazel eyes, and to his surprise those hazel eyes had made their appearance as she glanced back at him. Their eyes connected for a few seconds, before both of them looked away. Punk rubbed his forehead and remembered that AJ had left him, and he'd moved on, or had at least been convincing himself that he had.

Colt wrapped up the interview whilst Corey took his headset off, placing it down on the table and rubbing the sides of his head. Colt stopped the recording and proceeded to take off his own headset. "Good interview Corey, nice to catch up with you man." He said, shaking Corey's hand.

AJ held out Corey's jacket for him to put on, she figured they'd be leaving soon, however as Corey ignored her she crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. She watched as Colt scooted past the radio table and over in Punk's direction. Punk got off the chair and put his phone back in his pocket, holding out his arms to hug Colt who was now standing before him.

"What's up my brother?" Colt asked as he pulled away from the manly hug he had shared with Punk.

"Nothing much, not seen you in ages man! How have you been?" Punk said, smiling and putting his hands in his jeans pockets.

Corey tapped AJ on the shoulder and then grabbed her forearm, pulling her up from the chair. His jacket slipped from AJ's arms and back into the chair, but she failed to notice. "C'mon let's get outta here!" Corey moaned. AJ nodded back and followed Corey out of the door. Colt managed to find a break in his conversation with Punk to wish him good luck in future projects.

AJ followed Corey like a lost puppy all the way back to the car they'd left behind in the parking lot. He sat himself down in the driver's seat and waited for her to join him in the car. AJ got in quickly and buckled her seatbelt. Corey looked over at her and noticed he was missing something, he turned and looked on the backseats but it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"AJ, where the hell is my jacket?" He questioned.

AJ was busy reapplying her lip gloss in wing mirror. "Huh?"

Corey put his hand firmly on her shoulder and turned her small frame to face him. "I gave you my jacket, where is it?"

AJ wriggled free of his grip, "I don't know! I tried to give it to you, but you wouldn't listen! It's probably still inside." She replied angrily.

"Well go get it then!" Corey shouted.

AJ wasn't in the mood to argue, so he unplugged her seatbelt and got out of the car, slamming the door in frustration. She heard Corey yell something from inside the car but she didn't bother listening to what he had to say, a little voice in her head was telling her to kick him out when they got back. She walked back into the building and up the stairs, turning down the corridor briskly, her eyes fixed on the floor. Within seconds of turning the corner she was knocked back and stumbled up against the wall. Looking up rather frustrated she was ready to verbally rip the person into shreds, until she realised who it was. She was rather shocked, and bit her lip whilst blinking rather rapidly.

Punk moved back against the parallel wall, creating a small gap between them. He was wearing black zipped up hoodie and some ripped jeans. He had his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor for several moments before looking back up at AJ. "Uhm…well this is awkward." He said, turning his head to look down the corridor.

"Yeah, well, I don't have time Punk." AJ said brushing past him and into the recording room, catching sight of Corey's jacket on the chair she was sitting on. Punk turned and watched her walk away once again, this was becoming too much of a familiar sight. He shook his head and stopped himself from admiring anything about her, and he walked down the corridor and down the stairs. As he walked he thought about all the things he could have said to her to make her hang around just a little longer, maybe ask her about how she felt? Wait, what was he thinking? He had no thoughts or emotions any more. As he exited the building he took one of the notes from her out of his pocket, which he had been carrying around for a few days and threw it into the trash can outside the door.

* * *

**Hey guys! I am super sorry that I haven't uploaded in aaaages but I've been really ill and just haven't been able to get the mindset to write, however I promise there will be more regular updates as I'm now on the road to recovery!**

**Hope you enjoyed this installment, review and let me know what you think. You're awesome :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A week later...**_  
_

_AJ was sitting on the couch with her comic book, listening to the sound of the rain hitting the ground outside. She raised her head and looked over to the window that was gently shaded by the curtains; the rain was coming down heavy. Ignoring the continuous downpour she turned her attention back to her comic and snuggled down under a blanket on the sofa. Just as she was getting to the main part she heard a rapid thumping at the door. At first she thought it might be Corey, and he'd soon hurry up and get his key out, but the banging didn't stop. _

_A little worried, she nervously got out of her chair and headed for the door, wrapping the blanket around her. Her little body trembled as she didn't like being home alone at night, especially when it was raining so heavily outside. As she reached out for the glossy door handle she peered through the window, trying to identify the silhouette. Eventually she stood up straight, broadening her shoulders out to make herself appear more intimidating, when she felt about 5 years old deep down inside. _

_The door swung open and AJ was shocked to see nobody other than CM Punk standing on her doorstep, soaking wet. Had Punk showered with his clothes on? He stood there for a few seconds, his body slightly bent over as his drenched clothes began to weigh down on him. "Can I come in? Or do you just want me to stand here forever? It's raining, in case you didn't notice." Punk said arrogantly. AJ stepped to the side and allowed Punk in. She shut the door behind him quickly. As she moved out of his way she noticed puddles forming on her hallway tiles, but now was not the time to complain._

"_Punk, what are you doing here?" AJ asked confused._

_He ignored her for a while, squeezing the bottom of his t-shirt, trying to dry out a little. He ran his right hand through his wet hair, flattening it down a little. AJ watched him do this, before deciding she'd be a bad host to let him stand there soaking wet. "Want me to go get you some dry clothes?" _

_Punk looked at her rather strangely. "Thanks, but I highly doubt I'm gonna fit in one of your bright cutesy ass t-shirts" He laughed sarcastically. AJ stood there staring at him, a little taken back. "No, I meant I could go get you something of Corey's, I mean I'm sure…"_

"_Forget it, that's not why I'm here." Punk interrupted. "You don't think I came here just for a visit, do you? In this weather? God AJ, has this dude lowered your IQ or something." Punk sneered. AJ just stood there glaring at him. _

"_Well don't think you can sit on any of my sofa's soaking wet."_

_Punk rolled his eyes at her. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." He replied with a smirk. She wrapped the blanket around her frame tighter, she wanted to throw Punk out of her house and get back to her comic, what would she do if Corey came home now? _

"_Okay, so why are you here then?" AJ questioned. "Bit unusual for you to be in New Jersey, isn't it?" _

_Punk ran his hand down his face. His t-shirt was now stuck tight to his torso, resulting in AJ gazing at his visible muscle. "Ah, how do I put it?" He muttered. It looked as though AJ was happy here, in her new home. She'd done a good job at decorating. He needed to focus on why he was really here. AJ began to huff impatiently, she was starting to get cold and wanted to mop up the rain puddles on her floor._

"_Okay well…I guess what I'm trying to say is…Ah fuck let me just say it, I miss you, AJ." Punk confessed. His face went a little pale, and he didn't make eye contact for a while. Once the words had left his mouth he felt like it was a slightly stupid thing to say. God, what was he thinking?_

_It took AJ a few moments to process what Punk had just said, and she stood there just staring at him for a while, before his eyes met hers and he had a look of vulnerability, but also pure badness on his face. AJ felt her heart melt. A soaking wet Punk, confessing his weakness towards her, instant turn on. She bit her lip seductively before smiling greatly. The blanket hit the floor as AJ jumped into Punk arms. As he held her there rather surprised she felt her own clothes becoming rather soggy, but she couldn't care less right now. She hooked her arms around his neck and leant back in his arms to look at him._

"_Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting I'll admit, but we'll go with it." Punk laughed._

_AJ planted a kiss on Punk's cold lips and jumped back onto the ground. Her own clothes were now sticking to her slightly, and she felt uncomfortably wet. As she slowly pulled her t-shirt away from her skin she noticed Punk watching her closely. "So, now what?" He asked, biting his own lip._

"AJ!" Called a familiar voice.

AJ felt her body begin to shake suddenly. She was developing a serious migraine. _She looked into Punk's eyes, but her words weren't leaving her mouth. He was just staring at her, as if she wasn't really there._

"AJ, wake up! Look what I got!" Corey shouted, shaking AJ vigorously. The image of a sodden Punk evaporated from her mind as she opened her eyes to see Corey waving a letter in front of her. She threw the sheets over her head and took a moment to think about what had just happened. Could it really have been? Just another dream. AJ sighed with true discontent, why couldn't she just wake up in this perfect alternate reality?

"AJ! C'mon! Don't you want to know what this is?" Corey asked, a huge smile now beaming on his face. AJ raised her head from under the covers, "What is it?" She asked half-heartedly.

"It's my acceptance, from the WWE! They want me to debut this coming Monday! This Monday on Raw!" Corey got onto the bed and wrapped his arms around AJ. "Isn't this amazing?"

AJ turned to face the wall, letting Corey push himself up against her back. "Yeah Corey, it's just great.

* * *

Punk woke up from his little power nap and looked at the clock beside him. Yup, he had gained exactly two hours sleep. Well, that was better than nothing right? He looked down to see he was still in yesterdays clothes, and decided he needed to take a shower or something. Today was a day of solid travelling. No doubt Kofi was up and in the lounge playing some sort of video game with Miz.

He got up off his bed and walked towards the bathroom, rubbing his eyes and blinking a few times. Mornings were rough. He pushed open the bathroom door and was greeted by the usual waft of several aftershaves. After relieving himself, Punk stripped off and showered. Most people use their time in the shower to think over important things in their lives, Punk used his shower time to plan his work our regime. He tried to be as quick as he could, and got out to towel dry his hair. No point gelling it back, today was going to be nothing but a wasted day.

Heading for the lounge, Punk could hear the sound of Kofi losing to Miz at some xbox game. Right now all he wanted was a smoothie. He remembered AJ used to make the best morning smoothies, but she'd never tell what she put in it, so it became somewhat of a game. Yawning and rubbing his nose, Punk pushed all thoughts of his former lover to the back of his mind as he entered the lounge, heading straight for the fridge.

"What's up Punk!" Miz called out, not taking his eyes off the tv screen.

"Morning." Punk replied. He pulled out several fruits from the bottom drawer of the fridge and put them on the counter. He didn't really care what went in it, he just needed something to give him some morning motivation. Something told him today was going to be a long day.

* * *

_******* Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it. Don't forget to let me know what you think by leaving me a review or a pm! Keep being awesome! *******_


	6. Chapter 6

_Monday (Raw)_

There was no denying AJ was seriously jealous as she watched Corey load the trunk of the car with all the things he would fill his locker with when he got to the stadium where the WWE would be performing. She stood by the front door, arms folded, not offering to help Corey load anything into the car.

"Hey, um babe, can you pass me that bag?" Corey asked politely, signalling to the bag by the inside of the door. AJ didn't budge. Since Corey had gotten his big break with the WWE he was notably kinder and nicer to her, although that didn't stop him from asking too much from her. She rolled her eyes and picked up the bag, throwing it at Corey, not caring if he caught it or not.

"Whoa, thanks." Corey said looking at AJ rather confused before loading it into the trunk. "Okay, are you ready to go?" He asked.

AJ walked back into the house silently. She had packed a small suitcase of her own, and it stood at the bottom of the staircase. She watched as Nacho jumped around it, he was excited thinking he would be going with them. That was one of the hardest parts about being on the road for AJ, not being able to take Nacho with her. She would have to drop him off at her parents' house before her and Corey headed for the arena. She smiled at him as his tail wagged rapidly. Picking up her suitcase, she walked passed him and back out the front, carefully treading down the steps sideways to make sure she didn't fall. She plunged her case into the arms of an un-expectant Corey, before heading back up the steps and into the house once more.

"Babe where are you going?" He called after her.

It made AJ quiver a little when he used little pet names for her. When they had first got together she thought it was cute, but now it was damn irritating. "I'm checking the house one more time." She replied sternly.

Standing in the hallway of her very own house, she looked around for what could be the last time for months. Admiring the living room and the kitchen in turn, she finally took Nacho in her arms and picked up the keys from the rack by the door. Taking one last look at her only escapism, she sighed and closed the door behind her, locking it tight.

Corey was already in the car, waiting for AJ to join him. He was extremely excited to say the least, all he'd ever wanted was a chance to prove he was a good wrestler on TV, and now he was getting his shot. AJ came along and got in the car beside him, placing Nacho gently on the backseat. He may be a skittish little dog, but he wasn't afraid of car journeys.

They drove along the side roads before pulling into the Avenue where AJ's parents lived. Without saying a word to each other, Corey pulled up outside their house and AJ retrieved Nacho from the backseats. He was sleeping so she made sure not to wake him too briskly. Getting out of the car, she stepped onto the sidewalk and slammed the car door shut. She retrieved the little travel bag she'd packed with all Nacho's things in from the trunk and walked down the driveway of her parents' house. She knocked three times and waited for a response. Not long after the door swung open and AJ was suffocated by her mother's grasp.

"AJ, my darling! It's been such a long time since I've seen you. How are you?" Her mother queried pulling away from her petite but beautiful daughter. AJ smiled back at her mum, and placed Nacho down inside the house, watching him run into the kitchen and then through into the other rooms. "Mom, I'm fine thank you. Oh and hey! Thanks for caring for Nacho such short notice, it means a lot." AJ handed over the travel bag.

Her mom was busy waving at Corey who was still sitting in the car. "Aren't you two coming in for a drink?"

AJ shuffled her feet uncomfortably. "Not today mom, we've got places to be." She wasn't making a convincing argument, and her mom could see she wasn't happy, at all.

"AJ dear, everything is still okay with you and Corey isn't it?" She had one of those motherly concerned looks on her face as she leant against the door frame, folding her arms the same way AJ did.

"Yes, everything is fine. Now I really have to go." AJ replied, leaning in to kiss her mom on the cheek.

"Okay honey let me know as soon as you get to the hotel, don't go pushing yourself too far, I know what a hard worker you are. I love you baby." She said, pressing a kiss to her daughter's forehead. She watched as AJ walked back down the path and to the car. She was still slightly worried about AJ, but she knew there was nothing her daughter couldn't handle, and with that she closed the door.

A few hours later and they pulled up outside the arena. It had been a somewhat awkward journey, with Corey singing along to most of the classic rock songs on the radio. AJ had resulted in putting her headphones in to listen to her own music, but then again it did make her laugh whenever he got the words wrong. She got out and stood in the parking lot, leaning against the car and appreciating the cold air. She was only wearing leggings and a long, baggy t-shirt. Her hair was tied up in a cute ponytail and was blowing in the breeze. Corey was going through the bags in the trunk, trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind.

"AJ, can you just go inside and see how much space I've got, I don't know what to take."

AJ nodded and skipped up to the doors of the arena. She walked through the revolving door and continued to skip all the way to the men's locker room. She was just flicking her head back and forth, enjoying the swaying motion of her ponytail when she got to the door and noticed the wrestlers inside. She stood back a little, hiding her face around the door frame, just peering in. She could see Punk and Kofi messing around, play fighting a little.

_Gosh. Isn't he attractive?_

She admired Punk as she watched him grappling Kofi and giving him a nougie. He was laughing in such a care free way it made AJ feel at ease. She continued to watch, a little love-struck, as Punk started laughing and took off his shirt. He was just standing in the locker room in his basketball shorts and kickpads. AJ bit her lip and looked away for a second or two. She thought about all the times she'd ran her hands across his torso and traced his tattoos, all the times she'd leant against his chest and fallen asleep. But she shook her head and began to think about all the times she'd pounded her fists against his chest in anger, he wouldn't stop her as he found it rather amusing. She thought about all the times his words had cut through her heart, and his laughter echoed around her head. She was in a constant battle with herself. Her heart told her she loved him, and he was the one, but her head continued to remind her why she'd broken up with him, and why she'd got with Corey.

As she continued to stand there in a daze, Corey came up behind her with a bag slung across his body. He brushed past her, making his presence known. "AJ what the hell? I thought I asked you to come back and give me an answer but I find you just standing here gawking at these other guys." She became slightly embarrassed as now the entire men's locker room had noticed her, including Punk.

"AJ, you're back!" Dolph called out.

"Who does this guy think he is?" Miz shouted

The other wrestlers began to mutter among themselves as Corey stepped before Punk. "I believe you're blocking my locker." He grunted.

Punk stepped back, holding his hands up. "Whoa, sorry man, I didn't know you'd arrived at the top of the company." He said sarcastically before rolling his eyes at Kofi.

Corey dropped his bag on the floor, making the locker room become silent. AJ stood in the doorway, watching what was happening. She suddenly became very worried as she noticed both Corey and Punk shared a look of bitterness in their eyes.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you still think you're the champ around here, when clearly you aren't." Corey spat, getting up in Punk's face.

Punk laughed, looking around, "This guy's funny, haha, yeah, real funny." He said, before regaining a look of pure spite on his face. His fists were now clenched and he was ready to induce some pain on someone. Corey stared right back at him, not willing to back down. If Punk wanted to fight him, he'd happily kick his ass right now.

"See, not only do you talk a lot of crap, so I've heard, you also pick up a lot of crap, another man's trash." Punk said, looking over at AJ. She glared back at him, not fully believing what he was saying about her.

"It's not my fault you didn't realise what you had when you had it. Choosing a title over a girl, man that's low. Especially when you lose the title just months later. Fucking ironic, isn't it?"

AJ couldn't process what she'd just heard. How did Corey know Punk had lost his championship and she didn't? Was he serious, or was he just winding him up. No, he was serious. As AJ came back round to realise what was going on she could see both Corey and Punk just inches away from each other, both with their fists clenched, shooting looks of pure anger into each other.

"I'm ready to put someone to sleep." Punk snarled, stepping forward only to be blocked by AJ. She'd ran into the equation just as she figured something was about to get nasty.

"Punk, leave it. Please." She begged, looking into his eyes with complete fear. The longer she looked, the more dazed she became by the pure emerald green of Punk's eyes. She'd let perfection escape her.

Punk shook his head at her. As much as he wanted to smash Corey's face in, just seeing the look on AJ's face instantly left him powerless. He couldn't do anything that would affect her, or even upset her. "Piss off then will you?" He said, giving her a look of disgust before walking off out of the locker room.

AJ watched as he walked away. She wanted to run after him and tell him how much she missed him, but it was evident he didn't feel the same, so she left it, and instead made a compromise by clinging onto Corey's arm.

Punk walked down the corridor, still full of rage. He wanted to go back and get his headphones so he could listen to music, but there was a certain amount of time he should probably wait before going back there. Thoughts of AJ were still running through his mind, why was she back here? Was it for good? He began to stop caring as he headed for catering, hoping they would offer some half decent food he could actually eat. Discovering a bowl of fresh salad, he helped himself to some and sat at a table, eating slowly and chewing rapidly so he could shovel as much of his emotion down with the food. He really didn't care. Of course he didn't care.

* * *

_Just another update with the first interaction between Corey and Punk, things didn't really go well. Excited to write the next chapter so it should be up soon! Don't forget to review, you're all amazing 3_


	7. Chapter 7

AJ was walking down the corridors of the arena, rubbing her head. Her eyes dominated by the red rings around them. No sleep had been gained last night.

Corey had decided to go out and celebrate, but he liked to party a little too hard. Familiar sights for AJ soon became smashed beer bottles, spilt drinks all over an unruly bar and plenty of drunken imbecilic people throwing themselves around.

"_Lighten up AJ! Why don't you just have a drink or something!" Corey slurred as he pressed the beer bottle to his lips once more._

"_How many times do I have to remind you I don't drink, but whatever, you go ahead and have fun?" She groaned._

_Corey looked at her and smiled unrealistically. His mind was clearly intoxicated. AJ hadn't seen him without a drink for 5 minutes since they'd arrived at the bar. _

"_Oh lighten up baby, I'm a WWE Superstar now!" He raised his arms in the air and flailed them around a little, screaming at the top of his lungs "I'M A WWE SUPERSTAR NOW!" The crowd of people around him cheered and screamed, probably not having a clue what he was going on about. AJ held her head high, she was bigger than all this. She rolled her eyes as Corey continued to guzzle down alcohol as if it was water. She clutched her bag tight, in fear it would be taken straight from her grasp as some shady men sat beside her._

"_Can we just get out of here, please?" She begged. No reply. Corey was too busy drunkenly moving his head to the beat of the loud thumping echoes, not in time. But it had become too much. AJ managed to slip out of the door without Corey even noticing._

She'd left him on the sofa, snoozing his head off, to come down to the arena to hopefully strike up some sort of deal with Vickie Guerrero. She now stood before her in her office, trying to bargain a contract for at least a year, minimum.

* * *

Punk was walking around the locker room, trying to find some wrist tape. He didn't usually leave things behind on the bus, but he had a lot on his mind right now and had failed to pack it in his travel bag. Someone around this hellhole was bound to have some spare. He wandered for a little longer, stepping over empty bottles and bags thrown on the floor. After raking through a pile of sweaty attire he came across a small roll of tape.

"Gotcha!"

He briskly wrapped his hands and wrists with the tape. It had become such a routine he could do both hands in seconds. After a while of deciding whether to keep the tape or not, he proceeded to throw it back on the pile and grab his sharpie to make his mark. Whilst he was drawing the final line of the 'X' on his right hand he could hear voices being raised down the corridor somewhere, and decided he should go check it out. He didn't know of anyone to be here as early of him, precisely why he arrived at such a time.

Strolling down the corridors he turned a corner just in time to see Vickie Guerrero shut her office door right in the face of AJ. AJ looked a little taken back, and Punk was intrigued to find out what had happened.

"What you doing around here short stack?" He called out in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

AJ flipped her head round to make awkward eye contact with Punk, not really knowing how to reply. "Trying to figure out some sort of arrangement." She replied before flicking her eyes back towards the closed door.

Punk laughed a little, seriously AJ should know there was no way of reasoning with Ms Guerrero by now. "Well, you're doing everything wrong. I mean if I was general manager I'd at least want some sort of cake." He said, shrugging his shoulders and smirking a little.

"This isn't a joke Punk, I've been thrown back into this business unexpectedly, and now I can't even get my old job back!" AJ said, sighing. She shook her head a little, staring at her shoes. What was she really doing here?

Punk walked towards her so they were just feet away from each other. "Well, it's probably because they don't need you here any more." He said, with a matter-o-fact look on his face. AJ just glared at him.

"No but seriously, nobody really cared that much when you left, I mean the Divas survived and got on with the show, I don't really know why you thought you could just walk in anyway, I mean c'mon we all know how hard it was to get here in the first place…"

"Why do you even care Punk, huh?" AJ interrupted. She wasn't in the mood and Punk was pushing all her buttons right now.

"Hey, that's a good point!" He said, wagging his finger at her. "Why _do _I even care?" He rubbed his chin whilst looking up at the ceiling sarcastically. He could see he was getting AJ worked up, and he was enjoying it.

"Eurgh, I don't have time for you to mess around." AJ snapped, pushing past Punk. She was only half way down the corridor when he called out to her.

"Oh yeah that's right! You've got to get back to babysitting your new toy boy." Punk called out.

AJ spun around quickly, a glare of pure anger across her face. Her eyebrows were firmly creased and her nose a little wrinkled. "What did you say?" She stood with her shoulders pushing forward, her small fists clenched.

Punk bit his lip to try not to laugh. "Well I mean, he's not exactly got the perfect physique of a wrestler, you could fight his battles for him, but you do that anyway right?" Punk bit, smirking at AJ. She stormed up to him, just inches away from him. "Oh, and you do, huh?" She snarled, shooting a look of anger straight into his own emerald eyes. Punk continued to stare straight back at her; he wasn't backing down from a little cutesy ass.

"AJ, are you down here?" Called out a hung-over Corey. He was in sweats and an old t-shirt, looking like the definition of the Grim Reaper. He clearly hadn't got over last nights antics.

In a moment of pure panic AJ grabbed hold of the top of Punk's t-shirt and dragged him into the nearby supply closet. She had to get away from Corey, the last thing she needed was for him to see her with Punk, he'd throw a fit. Punk was a little taken back by it all. He let AJ steer him into the cupboard and shut the door behind them, turning the small lock. When she eventually let go of him he pressed the light switch, illuminating the space between them. The cupboard was fairly small; the wall covered in portable storage shelves, forcing them to stand but inches apart.

"Well, this is romantic isn't it?" Punk said in a hushed tone, winking sarcastically at AJ. She just rolled her eyes at him. "Why are we in here anyway, trying to stop me from beating up your boyfriend, huh?" Punk continued to dig at AJ.

"No, I'm protecting you from a guy with a serious hangover. If he sees us together who knows what he'll do."

"Nu-uh, this is your lame way of getting me all alone so you can-" Punk stopped, he realised he was going to far; letting his own fantasies escape from his mind. AJ looked at him suspiciously before going into panic mode when she heard Corey call out one more time.

"AJ? Where are you? Ugh my head hurts." They heard his footsteps continue down the corridor until they became nothing but mere thuds in the distance.

Both Punk and AJ waited to make sure he was gone, before the silence was broken. "Well, now that Mr Grumpy has disappeared I'm getting the hell outta here."

AJ watched as Punk turned towards the door and grabbed the handle, twisting the lock and forcing it any way it would go. It began to rattle and he took more force in shaking it. AJ bit her lip nervously, the door wasn't opening. The hinges in the handle began to creek before it let out a rather worrying crunch.

"Oh." Punk said, turning back around with the door handle still in his palm. He looked down and it and then looked up at AJ.

"You broke the door!?" She cried. Staring down at the handle in Punks palm she closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. What was she going to do now? She was stuck in a very tiny cupboard with a man who she was trying to convince herself she despised. The truth was the more she came to realise she was in a very tight space with a very hot man, the more she wanted to jump into his arms and plant kisses all over his neck and lips. What was she thinking, must be the lack of oxygen?

As she came back to reality she realised the rather seductive stare on her face, and the rather concerned look on the face of Punk. "What?" He asked, looking at her strangely. "Oh, um nothing." She replied, biting her lip again.

The silence became louder; neither of them knew what to say. This was the first time in a whole year they were being forced to converse. After avoiding each other for so long, the scene of the last time they saw each other kept repeating over and over in their heads. AJ feeling guilty about leaving everything behind, and Punk feeling weak at the thought of how much he needed, and wanted AJ.

_"AJ, please…come back with me, please." Punk begged, it was his final words; he couldn't make her understand anymore._

_"I'm…I'm so sorry." AJ bawled, her face now a dark shade of red, her eyes almost unnaturally colored with such prominent, bloodshot veins. She stepped forward, going back to kiss him, but thought how much worse it would make it, so she looked at him, and her body crumpled. She experienced feelings she'd never felt before, in her life. Her heart broke down, and she yearned to be with him, but being with him was killing him, and his career. She took one final look at the man she loved so much, but she came to realize she could never make him understand, as she bit her lip and nestled her face into her scarf, smelling his aftershave she ran off into the distance and around the corner where she hailed a cab._

_Punk kneeled on the sidewalk for a while, not completely processing what had just happened. He believed that any second AJ would run around the corner and back into his arms, but the more he blinked the more he came to realize she wasn't coming back, and that started to destroy him._

_He let his head drop onto his chest, running his hands through his hair, breathing hard. He was shaking his head, refusing to believe that his heart had just been ripped from him and away with the woman he was in love with._

_He began to shake, clenching his fists on his head and letting the anger consume him. He began to shake his head faster, and faster, until he finally burst. Punk let out the loudest yelp from the bottom of his lungs, a shout louder than one he'd ever produced when being hit with a chair in ring. He punched the hard ground, splitting the knuckles on his left hand. "This isn't fucking happening, this isn't fucking happening," he repeated over and over. There was no glimmer of hope, no alternate ending. He shuffled over and sat on the ground, his back against the wall, looking at the end of the road, the corner AJ turned out of his life._

They both shook their heads in unison, both trying to erase the scene of that final night. As AJ raised her head, Punk did too and their eyes connected, the first time their real emotions were felt. Punk swallowed hard. He was trying to resist the temptation to smash AJ up against the shelves and kiss her half to death; he licked his lips as his seductive thoughts took over. It was almost as if AJ could sense what he was thinking, and she wanted to admit that she too wanted the same thing to happen, but how inappropriate would that be.

"I…I guess we haven't properly talked about what happened Punk," AJ said, gulping.

Punk held a hand up, "I don't want to. I'd rather not, it's the past and I couldn't care less." He lied.

"Punk, you can't pretend like it didn't happen just because you cant come to terms with your emotions!" AJ moaned, getting rather agitated.

"Oh, can't I? Well guess what little miss perfect, I am forgetting it happened, that any of it ever happened and I-" Punk took one look at AJ's vulnerable gaze and couldn't take it any more, he didn't care if what he was about to do was wrong, or whether AJ was feeling the same, he went with his gut. He took AJ's face in his hands and forced his lips against hers, much to his surprise she didn't reject.

AJ returned the passion and got Punk up against the door, which wasn't hard since it had no handle. She was matching every move Punk made, their mouths getting heated from the exploding passion. So many thoughts whirred round inside her head but she wasn't thinking about anything, nothing at all.

However suddenly, AJ's phone began to vibrate in her back pocket. She tried to pull away from Punk, pulling her hands from around his torso and trying to retrieve her buzzing mobile whilst he held her, trailing kisses down her neck.

"Ignore it," He muttered between kisses.

AJ began to worry, and couldn't take it any longer. She managed to push Punk away from her and whipped her phone from her pocket. It was Corey. She let out a little yelp of fear, whilst Punk stood before her, rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I hope that call is worth answering." He groaned.

"It's him! It's Corey!" AJ cried. She began to panic, looking around in all directions whilst her phone continued to buzz in her hand.

"Well answer it then, or I will!"

AJ's face took on a new image of fear, but just as Punk went to take the phone, the calling stopped. Her heart dropped back from her throat to where it should be. She let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt guilty about what had just happened.

"AJ…" Punk went to speak.

"No! Punk shut up! That was so wrong, this is all wrong! What am I doing, I need to get out of here!" She tried to push past him, getting the door now in front of her, before she remembered the handle.

"You can't get out…but what? You regret it? Well I'm just saying you could have stopped me but…"

AJ covered her ears with her hands, "Stop it Punk! Just stop it!" She screamed. He was a little confused. One minute she's dominating his lips and then the next she doesn't want to hear the words coming out of them. What had he just done, oh shit, what had he done?

A caretaker wandering the halls with a clanging cart of cleaning supplies heard AJ's scream and knocked on the door. "Is someone in there?"

AJ's eyes lit up! Finally she could get out! "Yeah, we're stuck! Can you get us out?" AJ called out frantically. Punk stood behind her with his arms folded, now rather pissed. He was watching AJ's every move.

The caretaker got his set of keys from his chain hanging from his uniform and unlocked the door from the outside. As he swung the door back AJ broke free as quick as she could, she needed to get away from Punk. "Thank you, so much!" She said before rushing down the corridor and out of sight. Punk took his time getting out of the closet. He didn't take his focus from the end of the corridor as he pushed the broken door handle into the hands of the caretaker, "I think you need to fix that."

* * *

**_This was by far my favourite chapter to write for this fic so far! I loved writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please review and let me know what you think, I love finding out your views! Hope you all enjoyed :3_**


	8. Chapter 8

AJ managed to make her way back to the hotel room she was sharing with Corey. She tried her best to sneak into the room, but failed miserably as Corey got up off the bed and walked to meet her at the doorway. AJ shut the door gently behind her and ran into Corey's arms, leaving him a little stunned. AJ tended not to show him any affection at all these days.

It wasn't that Corey wasn't happy in his relationship with AJ, if anything he was overwhelmed to have such a trophy girlfriend. AJ was everything he wanted, and everything he wanted to be seen with. She was cute and adorable, and just generally worked to make him look better, however as time was going by he was so worried she was going to leave him.

He clasped his arms around her and pecked her forehead. "What's all this then?"

AJ was guilt ridden. Her mind repeated her encounter with Punk over and over, as if she was watching an old video in her head that was old and tampered and stuck on repeat. She clutched Corey's torso tighter, furrowing her head deeper into his chest. "Nothing, I'm just…sorry."

Corey looked a little confused, but he knew he'd be stupid to give this moment up. "You don't have to be sorry for anything baby, you'll always have me."

AJ's stomach turned, that wasn't what she wanted to hear. Although she thought about pulling away stubbornly several times, she knew what she had done was wrong, and she felt as though she needed to make it up to Corey. She held her head up and pressed her lips against his stiffly. She felt his hand venture up to her head as he ruffled his fingers through her hair. He pulled away finally and looked at her delicate expression. AJ had managed to force a smile across her face, making out that everything was normal.

They spent the evening cuddled up in bed, watching old horror movie re-runs. AJ lay limply in Corey's clutch, feeling dirty just being smothered by his body. She wanted to run away, leave America altogether and start a life somewhere else. Just as she would get comfortable, she'd imagine Corey as Punk, and everything would be reset. She'd force herself to snuggle into him further, feeling more and more guilty than before.

Meanwhile back on his bus, Punk lay staring at the ceiling, feeling rather moody and was in an intolerable mood. He groaned at the thought of doing anything, even eating. He was on a low fat liquid diet for the week anyway, and couldn't be bothered to move and use the blender. He lay there silently, running his hands through his short hair over and over. Behind his solid forehead there were scenes of him and AJ messing around together, the happier times that made him want to run to the bathroom and retch. He hated the thought of himself being happy, and the thought of being with AJ again made him feel worse, purely because he refused to acknowledge his locked up feelings he had for her, kept deep down in the cell of his heart.

_"Hey HEY! I win again!" AJ screamed in delight, admiring her name at the top of the scoreboard on the xbox game._ _Punk rolled his eyes at her playfully, before lightly punching her arm. _

_"I'll get you some day short stack, don't you worry about that! I'm the pro you hear, I'M THE PRO!" He grappled her softly making her squeal. They fell off the sofa and AJ landed directly on top of Punk, laughing happily as she pretended to pin him for a three count._

_"See! I could even beat you in a wrestling match!" She gloated as she got up, brushing herself off and sitting back down on the sofa. Punk got up after, shaking his head at her and laughing a little. _

_"Yeah, you could. In fact, I'll have to get our GM to make that match, I'm sure the Universe would love to watch that!" He mocked sarcastically. _

_AJ tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at Punk with that gaze she gave him every so often. He admired her eyes and how the shone in any light, surely he couldn't be so lucky to be scoring it with someone like her, oh wait, yes he was. _

_"Right, make me a sandwich woman!" He shouted, pointing at the small fridge in the bus. AJ gave him a scolding look before they both laughed a little. "No but seriously, I'm starving."_

_AJ tapped her finger against her bottom lip, staring at the ceiling and mimicking that she was thinking hard. "Why don't we just go out somewhere?" Punk snapped his fingers and pointed to the door. "Let's go!"_

_"Okay but we should probably leave a note behind for Kofi!" She said, getting up and heading over to the counter. She ripped off a bit of paper from an exercise routine and grabbed a small pen. Punk made his way over to where she was bent over the counter and watched her write over her shoulder. _

_"It's insane how you dot all the letter 'i's that you do with little stars, why do you do that?"_

_"Hey!" She said, poking him lightly as she turned around, "Don't question me! Now let's go, I can literally feel my stomach rumbling."_

_"Oh shit, we can't have that it could bring the whole bus down!" Punk said sarcastically as AJ slapped his arm._

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_The next evening…_

AJ sat on the hotel bed cross-legged, a tray delivered by room service placed neatly beside her. Before Corey had left, he had ordered her a tray of pasta and bread, which was now limp and cold in the bowl. He had lost his first ever match on television, and to make things worse, the crowd had already begun to hate him. It just so happened that Justin Gabriel was in fact a better opponent, no matter how much Corey denied it after the match. He had decided to spend his evening drowning his sorrows in the bar, although it was no longer evening and more like the early hours of tomorrow.

AJ rocked herself back and forth slightly. For the past two hours her thoughts had been eating away at her mind. She had received a text from Kofi, who had asked to meet her tomorrow in the Central Park. AJ had accepted, as she would feel bad to decline to a friend, when all Kofi made her think about was Punk. She had once again relived the events in the closet, and now the guilt began to take over her mind. She felt like she should punish herself, and she had brought shame upon no only herself but Corey and her family. When he came back she would tell him, she had to come clean.

Corey managed to open the door and stumble through around 2am. He was only half drunk, drunk enough to not think straight, but sober enough to know what he was doing. As soon as AJ heard the door close she jumped off the bed and stood across the room from her 'boyfriend'. It was almost as if she was not in control of her body, she didn't want to have to admit her mistakes, but she knew she would be constantly be haunted by her thoughts if she didn't.

"Yes AJ?"

"I…I didn't say anything." She said nervously.

"But I can tell you want to tell me something, so come out with it, I want to go to bed." Corey moaned. He was in a pissy mood.

"Well, um okay. I'll just come out with it because there should be no lies in this relationship and I…" AJ threw her hands up and down as she spoke, her voice trembling along with the butterflies in her stomach.

"Well…go on then." Corey urged.

AJ gulped hard. "Well, the other day I got stuck in a closet with CM Punk, and we sort of…sort of shared a kiss." She stopped as she could see Corey's anger building up with each word. "But it was only a single kiss and it meant nothing because, I love you, right?" AJ added quickly, those last few words like poison on her tongue; there she was lying again.

Corey stared back at his unfaithful lover. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The sound of her voice burnt through his ears, as if she was scratching against his skin with a toothpick. He stepped towards her, turning his head and cupping his left ear, as if he didn't hear her. "You did what?" He said in a patronizing tone.

"Corey…" AJ pleaded but she was too late. He stepped towards her and a hard slap met her cheek. It stung for a few seconds as he pulled his hand away and sat down on the end of the bed. AJ's eyes didn't move from in front of her, she just stood completely still, shocked. Then, the real pain started. A red mark began to form across her cheekbone, as it was too early for a bruise to fully flair up. She breathed heavily to stop herself from crying, and didn't even raise a hand to caress the painful burn on her cheekbone.

Corey rubbed his mouth and looked over at AJ, his eyes whirling round a few times. His speech was a little slurred, as he was still intoxicated. "See what you make me do? I didn't want to do it but you made me, you know you made me AJ. Now, come here. I'm sorry. I love you. Don't make me do that again." He said in a drunken tone. He stood up before her and held his arms out and she walked towards him like an obedient pet. Still standing completely still she let him engulf her into his body, not raising her arms to wrap around his waist. He hugged her half heartedly, almost falling asleep on her shoulder. AJ gagged at the smell of alcohol on Corey's clothes, a single tear leaving her cheek as she stared into the distance. "You're right, I deserved it." She mumbled.

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**Sorry this chapter was so short guys, but there will be another one tomorrow I promise! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did please review and let me know what you thought! 3**


	9. Chapter 9

AJ had slept on the hotel room sofa that night. Waking up was painful as she rubbed her neck and flexed her legs over the arm rest for the first time in 5 hours. She stood up, all her bones creaking, and stretched her arms up in the air, hearing her back click loudly. She exhaled heavily and dragged her heavy body towards the bathroom. She stopped and leant on the door frame, watching Corey fast asleep. The white sheets moved up and down along with his breathing pattern. He'd passed out halfway through the night, so AJ managed to get out of the bed and set up for the night on the sofa. She still couldn't contemplate how she felt about the events or what she'd do next.

Going into the bathroom she noticed her own reflection in the mirror. At first she just knocked it off but then returned to do a double take staring shocked at the gigantic red oddity on her skin. She pressed two fingers against the bruise gently and pulled them away almost immediately; it felt as if her cheek bone was shattered. She began to frantically scramble inside her makeup bag which she had left on the sink ledge. Pushing the mascara and eye pallets to the side of the bag she eventually came across her complexion moisturiser and foundation. Sighing with relief she turned the tap on and filled her cupped hands with water, splashing the water against her face. She did this several times until she felt completely cleansed. Then, with a delicate brush she began to make circles in her powder until the end was a light brown. With a perfect flowing motion she began to dust over the bruise, trying to make it less visible.

Closer and closer she leant in towards the mirror, trying to make her face evenly coloured, as she now had one extremely 'tanned' cheek. As she squinted she banged her head on the mirror. 'Ow.' She mumbled to herself. Throwing the brush and foundation on the floor she looked back up at herself in the mirror and turned her head all angles, shaking her head as the bruise was still clear and visible. There was nothing she could do to reduce the redness. After feeling defeated she decided to just get over it, today would have to be a hair down day.

AJ applied some natural coloured eye makeup and puckered her lips ready to smother their already smoothness with lip gloss. She pulled out her 'Blushing Pink' gloss which Corey had bought her for their one month anniversary. It was now nearly finished, but she managed to get some on the brush and dragged it across her lips. Making little bubble noises with her lips to spread it round, AJ looked at herself in the mirror and she looked the same as she always did, but she didn't feel the same.

Picking up her smashed foundation palette from the floor she swished her hair off her shoulders and down her back effortlessly. She left the bathroom and entered the main bedroom again heading over to the small closet to find something to wear. She picked out her little black cropped t-shirt with the skulls and some grey skinny jeans. Going for the full on AJ look she grasped for her black studded belt with the batman buckle. It reminded her of Punk and she used to wear it when they went out for dinner all the time.

"_AJ can you hurry the fuck up, woman we don't have time for this, the reservation is in 20 minutes!" Punk called out as he banged his fists against the bathroom door. AJ was struggling with her belt inside; it was a bit too big and didn't have a hole where she needed it to have one. Using all her strength she tried to pierce a hole herself, but it just wasn't working. With a scowl on her face she opened the bathroom door, her belt still undone._

"_Beautiful look darling, the anger in your eyes completes the outfit." Punk laughed in his usual sarcastic way._

_AJ crossed her arms, "I can't make a hole in this belt, can you do it for me?" She asked him, her expression now changing to a cute smile with a twinkle in her eye. _

_Punk grabbed both ends of AJ's belt and pulled her towards him. He got down on his knees and used the buckle to pierce a hole in the belt, right where AJ needed it. She then took it from his hands and clasped the belt together, revealing the Batman buckle._

"_Nice belt!" Punk said, admiring how it looked around AJ's jeans._

"_Stop looking at my butt!" She laughed, pushing him a little._

_Punk held his hands up and started walking towards the door, not long before AJ skipped up behind him and pressed her hand into his._

AJ had got a text from Vickie last night saying she could have her job back and that shortly after AJ had left she got a call from Vince agreeing it was a good idea to sign the young Diva back to the roster, which had made her evening, right before she came home to Corey.

AJ was finally ready to leave the hotel room so she grabbed her small Hello Kitty backpack and shoved the necessary items inside; her phone, the room card, a bottle of water, gym clothes, ring attire and some hair ties.

* * *

Punk was up bright and early as usual, and had taken it upon himself to find his way to the arena gym to start some training. He was running on the treadmill, headphones in and world out. Early morning work outs had always been his thing, especially when he hadn't slept at all. He usually went for a run about midday, so working the treadmill early really worked. As he ran along to tracks from H2O he didn't hear the gym door open suddenly.

AJ walked in and noticed Punk on the treadmill with his back to her, and decided to make her way silently passed. She kept her head down low and briskly walked over to the corner of the gym to the yoga mats. She wasn't dressed for a work out session just yet and wanted to do some basic stretches before she went to the lockers. She put her stuff down up against the wall and pulled a hair tie out of her bag, completely forgetting about the clot of redness on her cheek. She shoved her hair back into a high pony tail and swished her head a little making sure it was secure. As she fiddled a little with the band in her hair she noticed a vending machine over in the other corner that was selling cheap energy drinks, and since she didn't really feel too good after an uncomfortable night on the sofa, she knew that was just what she needed.

Taking extra care not to disturb Punk she headed for the machine when she stumbled on a huge rucksack, sending herself flying through the air, although she managed to grab onto a cross trainer to stop her from falling hard on the ground. Punk noticed her stumble from the corner of his eye and turned the treadmill off before stopping his music and laying his headphones around his neck on his shoulders. Trying to hold back his sadistic laughter he walked over to her, holding a hand out to help her back onto her feet steadily. She looked up at him, a little embarrassed but put a frown on her face quickly.

"Is that your bag?"

"Is that your face?"

AJ looked a little puzzled for a moment, but then gasped and raised a hand to cover the mark on her cheek. She turned her head away from him, not wanting him to ask any questions.

"Next time just put your bag somewhere else." She mumbled as she headed away from him.

"AJ, what happened?" He called out, watching her stop motionless in the middle of the gym. She turned around to face him and lowered her hand. He saw her gulp hard and take a few steps back towards him so she wouldn't have to shout.

"I was just laying down and I…I dropped my phone on my face." She faked some laughter. "You know how I am, super clumsy." She said, swishing her ponytail.

Punk looked at AJ, giving her a look to show he knew she was lying. He knew her well enough now to be able to tell whether she was telling the truth or not, plus that was so illogical, you couldn't get a bruise like that from dropping your phone on your face.

"AJ, I know you're lying to me, what happened honestly."

She knew she couldn't lie to him, she'd never get over it. Walking towards him she ran her hands through her hair at the back of her head. "Okay, me and Corey had a fight, and he hit me." She watched Punk's expression change dramatically. "But it wasn't hard, and I deserved it." She quickly added.

Punk closed his mouth for a few seconds, and then re-opened it, rubbing his chin. "You _deserved it?"_He looked at her extremely concerned. AJ had been through a lot of emotional trauma, even with him, and he knew how she mostly blamed herself when things happened, but nobody went around hitting her and convincing her it was her fault, well not when he knew about it anyway.

"What do you mean you _deserved it?" _He asked again.

AJ bit her lip nervously and looked back into his eyes. "I was with you, I'd cheated on him and he had every right to be angry." She said, with a look of sadness in her brown eyes.

"What, it was a kiss, a kiss AJ! And besides, you stopped me from going…well you know. He shouldn't have hit you, god when I see him-"

"No, Punk no. Don't you dare hurt him." She said with a streak of anger in her voice.

AJ looked at him in a way she knew Punk couldn't resist. When he saw the beauty and fear in her eyes he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. She began to walk away from him, but he put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back towards him and into him closer than before.

"AJ, why are you still with him?" Punk said calmly, his minty breath tickling her face. She took a moment to close her eyes before looking straight back into his emerald gaze.

"Because he loves me, and he protects me." AJ stuttered.

Her words stabbed through Punks body. She had no idea what love was. He never thought it would hurt this much to hear AJ admit she was over him.

He placed his hands on her sides, and she shivered at his now foreign touch. A daydream ago she had felt him, his hands in hers and their bodies close together, but it had been a long time since she'd felt his warmth on her skin in reality.

"Punk, please don't." AJ pleaded. She was trying to read the emotions he was expressing, but Punk was not an easy person to read, and never had been, that was what she liked about him. Holding her breath for a few seconds she waited to see his mouth move and hear what he had to say.

"I swear to God AJ, if you walk away from me now I'll get over it, and leave you to deal with your issues on your own, but you can't honestly stand here and say to me you don't have any feelings for me. If you tell me right now that you are in love with that son of a bitch, I'll walk away and have nothing to do with you." Punk spoke. His words sounded harsh but he meant them in the best of intentions, he never understood how he could be sympathetic, which is probably why he hardly ever was.

AJ's face shone a troubled expression, she had bit her lip so much her lip gloss had been erased and a small cut was leaking drops of blood. Her lips began to quiver as she thought about the bruise on her face, and thought about being with Punk. She wanted to admit that she loved Corey and just have him leave her alone, but they both knew she couldn't do it.

"Sometimes I just really hate you Punk." She said as she pushed his hands from her regretfully. She stormed back over to her stuff and took it, exiting from the far door, feeling her precious eyes fill with salty tears.

Punk stood still, and raised a hand to run down his face. She'd slipped away once again and he was starting to doubt why he even gave a shit. He walked back over to the treadmill and just stood there for a while, contemplating what to do next.

AJ made her way to the locker room, reaching in her bag for her phone after realising that she was supposed to meet Kofi later that day. She composed a quick message implying that she felt really ill and wouldn't be able to come. Truth was she did feel rather ill, the thought of being still in love with CM Punk made her sick, so somewhat ironically she quickly ran to the bathroom after feeling a plunge in her stomach, and threw up several times.

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**Sorry this upload is a little late, I wrote this chapter out several times to try and make sure I was happy with it. I hope y'all like it and enjoyed reading it as always! Don't forget to review, and if you haven't reviewed before, why not let me know what you think? Hope you're all excited for the next chapter! Have an awesome day :D**


	10. Chapter 10

Punk headed back to the locker rooms with his bag on his back. He took his phone out of his pocket and clicked the main button so the screen lit up and he could check the time. It was still mildly early, and dealing with AJ hadn't taken out much time from his day, he was still on schedule for a midday run.

Pushing open the locker room door, Punk walked inside and stopped in the middle of the room, now turning to directly face the other man who was fumbling around inside his locker. As the door shut and broke the dead silence Corey turned around to see Punk standing, staring at him. Punk dropped his bag down by his feet and stood there, crossing his arms and revealing his huge biceps.

"Ah, just the man I wanted to see." Corey said, turning back to his locker to grab the bottle of water lying on the top shelf. "I hear you've been running into AJ, or should I say my girlfriend quite a lot."

Punk broadened his shoulders, chewing his gum and looked Corey up and down before answering. "Running into her? I don't think that's exactly it. After all, I'm not a woman beater." Punk spat. He had his own issues to raise with this miscreant.

Corey's eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows, fiddling with the bottled water in his hands. "Sorry what? I don't think I quite got what you said." He replied whilst turning his head a little and narrowing his eyes at Punk.

Punk took a deep breath and laughed a little. "Oh it's nothing really." He said quickly, looking all around the locker room then back at Corey. He gave him a disapproving glance. "AJ always did have a bad taste in men."

Corey looked at him, his mouth open a little. He huffed and blinked slowly. "I guess that's why she fucked around with you for a little bit then huh?" He added smartly, unscrewing the lid of his water and gulping some down to dampen his dry throat.

Punk nodded at him fairly. "Hm, I guess you could say that I'm definitely not everyone's choice." His words started quite soft. "But I'm certainly more of a man than you, and don't you ever forget I still look out for AJ, chump." He stated in a more serious and meaningful tone, glaring at Corey still.

Much to Punk's dismay, Corey began to laugh and turned around to his locker slamming the door shut. "Oh right, don't worry yourself big man she's fine with me, in fact she's probably better off with me. I mean what was the reason you two ended it? Oh I remember…the Championship right?" Corey said snarkily; he could see he was hitting a weak spot with Punk now. He took another sip of his water before continuing, "I know I'm going places in this company, but _I'll _always make sure that she's by my side." Corey smiled sarcastically at the end of his sentence.

Punk clenched his fists under his crossed arms and felt his anger building up inside of him but he stopped himself before it became too late. He ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip, fiddling with his lip ring. "Uhuh, okay you do that you pathetic little imbecile, but I swear to God if you do anything to hurt her and I find out, it won't just be your ego that will suffer, I'll make you beg me to stop the torment I'll inflict on you." Punk snapped.

Corey looked a little taken back, but he wouldn't let Punk's words faze him. "Ooh, I tell you…look…look at that." He said pointing to his arm, "You almost gave me goose bumps there Punk! Have you been rehearsing or?" Corey was suddenly cut off when Punk launched himself at AJ's abusive lover, pinning him up against the row of lockers and grabbing the collar of his t-shirt.

"You made me drop my water." Corey said sarcastically, despite his current position he didn't fail to get under Punk's skin.

Punk pushed his face right up in Corey's own personal space, and spoke harshly. "I'm warning you; don't make break you just like I've shattered everybody else. If you know what's good for you, you'll go on living your fucked up life out of my way and treat AJ how she deserves to be treated. See men like you; they don't last long in this company, or in _my _locker room, and when I've got a personal problem with someone I can only deal with them one way, beating the shit out of them. Don't say you weren't warned." Punk released his grip on Corey's tee and walked backwards over to his bag. "I'm warning you man, if she even looks unhappy I'll come and find you and make your life a living hell, and that's a promise." Punk gave Corey a sarcastic wave before he exited the locker room. As he stepped outside the door he checked his phone once more, right on schedule for his run.

He got outside the arena and began to make his way back to his bus so he could get ready properly for his time alone running around the city streets. A run was just what he needed to calm down right now, he was proud of himself for having enough self-control not to break Corey's face on the spot.

Now Corey was leaving the locker room himself still trying to absorb everything Punk had said, every last threat. However one word particularly stood out in his mind, '_woman beater'. _Things still weren't very clear from the night he'd hit AJ, but he was rather concerned about how Punk had come to find out. He hadn't seen AJ properly since that night, and he wondered if she'd been meeting with Punk in secret.

He took his phone out of his pocket and held it in his hand for a moment, staring at the blank screen. Then with a huge sigh he swiped his finger across the screen to reveal a photo of him and AJ, it never failed to make him smile. It was a pretty old photo from his birthday about 6 months ago, not long before him and AJ had started dating seriously. She looked so beautiful, but most of all happy. It made him come to the ultimate realisation that he hadn't seen a smile on AJ's face since they bought the house in New Jersey.

Just a couple of weeks after they moved in, everything began to slip. Noticing her get up in the morning and drag her heavy body out from under the sheets. She'd sit at her dressing table and just stare at her reflection, before once again deciding she couldn't be bothered to make herself look human today. Corey often referred to her as his own 'friendly ghost' as she always looked so pale, now that he thought about it that nickname seemed to get on her nerves a lot. She'd often just sit on the couch and stare into space for seconds, even minutes. He'd get no recognition from her at all, and would lip read her words to find her muttering Punk's name in her daydreams, but she was never careless enough to let his name leave her lips in reality. She'd show no affection, just an empty body without a soul. Trying to confront her would result in a full blown argument. AJ would deny missing Punk, and would scream her affection at him rather than showing it, which became rather fake. _"Of course I love you! Can't you see it? Don't you understand? Do you think I'd be here if I didnt!?" _She'd scream, her voice cutting in and out with the pitch of her tone. Sometimes Corey wondered if she just stuck around because she couldn't bare being alone. Time and time again she'd dodge his kisses, and refuse to hold his hand, and the truth was it hurt Corey. It hurt him a lot. The bubbly cartoon like woman he'd fallen for several months ago was nowhere to be found, and he had been left with this replica made of her flesh and bones, but not her soul and never her personality. The fire in his heart would be re-oxygenized every time someone spoke about how happy she always seemed with Punk, or how they never thought she'd move on. This fire would burn away all his affection and leave him with the ash of hatred. He'd often force AJ into doing things with him to try and gain back those months of bliss, but he knew deep down in the pit of his wrecked heart that the romance was dead, and she was nothing but an emotionless zombie.

As Corey walked back to the hotel his anger was getting caught up inside of him, the thought of all the time he'd lost by wasting his energy and affection on a woman who was repulsed at the sight of him now. Although one side of his personality told him that he was still in love with her, and wanted to make things work, it just so happened Punk had demolished all of Corey's fragile hope, and now all he wanted was to hurt AJ like she'd been hurting him. To make her feel his pain would be the satisfaction he'd wanted to gain for months. Punk was throwing around empty threats, and if Corey showed AJ he was not to be messed with there was no chance she'd go back running to Punk, and if worst came to worst? He'd be the barricade stopping her from communicating. That's right; it was time to avenge his bottomless pit of jealousy.

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**Hope y'all enjoy this chapter! Things are getting serious, haha! I'm really looking forward to writing the upcoming chapters and I hope you are ready to read them! **

**If you want to let me know what you think, or just discuss the story with me or anyone, please review and let me know what you think! I can honestly say your reviews fuel me to write such amazing things so don't be shy! Thanks, have an amazing day :)**


	11. Chapter 11 (Part 1)

**So this chapter will be coming in two parts, one from Punk's point of view (which is this one) and another from AJ's point of view. They'll join back together when they've both experienced the same event, so I hope that wont be too confusing! Enjoy.**

* * *

Punk opened the doors to the bus and walked up the stairs and into the main lounge to find Kofi perched on the couch tying the laces up on his running shoes. He looked at him rather strangely but continued to walk past without breathing a word. Once Kofi saw Punk's feet move passed him he raised his head and smiled, happy to see his best friend.

"Hey man! I thought maybe I could come running with you?" Kofi asked, holding his hands out to each side of him in a suggestive way. Punk continued to walk to his bedroom and dumped his training bag on the floor.

"Sure thing man, it'd make a change to have a running buddy." He shouted back, rifling through his closet looking for his sweats. He pushed several hangers backwards and forwards rather violently before he came across what he was looking for. Making his way to the bathroom he gave Kofi thumbs up before he got changed. Usually he'd prefer to run along to some of his favourite tunes, but if there was anyone he wouldn't mind running with, it'd be Kofi.

Punk and Kofi shared a rather strange relationship when Punk thought about it properly. From day one when Punk demanded Kofi travel with him up to the current day they'd always sort of just been best friends. There was nothing else to it. Punk had never met a more loyal and fun loving dude in all his life, and sometimes he needed Kofi by his side to encourage him, or make him a better person.

He came out of the bathroom shutting the door behind him, dressed in what he liked to refer to as his 'running gear', and walked towards Kofi who was now taking up all the space in the small lounge walkway by stretching. Punk stood there watching him until Kofi raised his head and noticed, "What, don't you stretch?"

"Yeah, but I do it outside."

Kofi realised that inside the bus wasn't exactly the ideal place as he lead the way down and out of the bus doors. They spent about 10 minutes in the parking lot stretching out their legs and jogging on the spot. Then they eventually hit the road.

Although they couldn't have a conversation whilst running along, the atmosphere felt so much more different from when Punk would run alone. He had someone to match himself up against, and someone who would be matching his pace alongside him. They ran in complete sync with each other, neither one of them needing to stop for a break. They ran past skyscrapers and shops, feeling the breeze slap them in the face along with it carrying their legs to higher destinations. Every now and then Punk would look over at Kofi and they'd start laughing at each other for no reason, forcing themselves to push on and get to the top of this monstrosity of a hill. At the top there was a nature park with few brown wooden benches. It wasn't exactly well maintained as the paint was peeling off, but nonetheless they looked rather inviting. As both Punk and Kofi slowed down to a light jog they decided to take a rest for a while, sitting down on the nearest bench.

Punk leant back, hanging his head over the back of the uncomfortable seat. He breathed heavily for a while, trying to catch a normal breathing pace again.

"Man, you sure run fast!" Kofi huffed, looking over at Punk who didn't seem to be struggling to return to his normal heart rate.

"Well you know me; I could do this for a living." Punk boasted, flexing his legs out in front of him. They ached a lot, and the joints in his knees felt weak, especially as he'd always had problems with them throughout his career. He leant forward with his hands in his lap, breathing steadily now.

"So, what's the deal with you and AJ? Have you spoken to her much since she's returned?" Kofi managed to splutter out.

Punk turned his head to look at Kofi, rolling his eyes as he did. "You just don't give up do you?" He said, laughing a little.

Kofi chuckled just like he always did, "Well what can I say?" He paused for a moment. "No but seriously man, what happened in the lockers a few week ago with you and Corey, did you and AJ talk after that?"

Punk bit his lip and thought about telling Kofi what had happened in the store cupboard, or what happened in the gym the other day. He knew Kofi would get it out of him eventually, so why not just explain. But when CM Punk decides to explain something that's quite alien to his nature he tends to leave out a lot of detail, on purpose. He could be so vague but feel like he'd said too much.

"Yeah we've…spoken." He replied, looking up at the sky. There wasn't a single cloud up there and the weather wasn't too grim either.

"Na man, I'm not settling for that. I know when you don't look at me there's something on your mind, so just tell me." Kofi said, reminding Punk that he was a big player in this game he called his life. He looked back over in his direction with a clear 'not bothered' expression on his face.

"Man if you don't tell me what's going on, I'm not gonna call my guy and get your precious pepsi half price anymore." Kofi threatened, well it wasn't a big threat but still, he tried right?

Punk looked at him with a sarcastic shocked expression on his face. He clasped his hands around his mouth and blinked several times, shaking his head. "No way you wouldn't." He said melodramatically.

Kofi laughed and punched his best friend on the arm playfully. "No but seriously man what's bugging you?" he pestered.

Punk sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. "Sometimes I wish you'd just fuck off to back where you came from." He said jokingly. "Okay, I met her a few times but not intentionally before you go getting all love stoned." Punk admitted. He was now making circle motions with his ankles, hearing them click every so often. Kofi looked down at them, and then back at Punk with a rather repulsed look on his face. "Ah, sorry" Punk said as he pressed his feet back on the ground.

"Okay so…? How'd it go?"

"Average"

"Nothing is average with you Punk, nothing. So don't use that excuse."

Punk was over this conversation. He loved Kofi to death but he didn't feel like talking, not that he ever did. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and re-opened them, everything being blurry for a few seconds.

"Can't we just get back to running?" Punk begged like a little kid, a bored and unsatisfied expression now showing on his sweat ridden face. He never usually took breaks when he ran on his own because he knew if he did he'd be too lazy to get started again.

"Not until you tell me how you really feel about AJ." Kofi said, his words catching Punk off guard. He shook his head in disbelief, surely Kofi already knew that?

"Dude, why are you asking me the same question you asked _after she left? _Surely that's some indication. I don't feel anything towards her, nothing." Punk lied once again. Lying to Kofi made him slightly nervous, because if Punk didn't believe in what he was saying there was no way he was convincing Kofi. Normally he'd be able to trick anyone through his words, but he travelled with this guy 24/7, and nobody knew him better than Kofi.

Kofi himself had of course picked up on Punks extension of the truth. "Look man you've gotta get over this or you're going to fall right back into the same hole you just got yourself out of." Punk looked up at Kofi rather pissed off. "I'm just saying we don't want the first two months of her being gone repeating themselves, for my sake as well as yours."

Although Kofi's words angered Punk, he knew what he was saying was true. The first few months after AJ was gone Punk was so out of order to Kofi it's a miracle he stayed alongside him. Punk had gone into breakdown mode, but when Punk was feeling this way he wasn't emotional, he was just a downright prick. He was moody all the time, wouldn't make conversation with anyone and would take advantage of everyone's kind gestures. He particularly affected the lives of Miz and Kofi. It got to the point where Miz found himself almost prepared to throw Punk off his own bus, and that resulted in a major blow out. However things got better over time, and it made their friendship stronger as a whole unit.

"You know what man, shut up about it. I can handle myself and if I need help, which I won't, I'll come to you." Punk got up off the bench alongside Kofi as they got ready to go running back. They stretched out for the final time when Punk caught the feeling of vibrations against his leg. He stood still for a moment to make sure he wasn't going crazy, but then he realised his phone was ringing. He whipped it out of his pocket and held it in his palm, seeing AJ's caller ID flashing on screen. As he quickly went to swipe the screen to answer, the calling cut off and the vibrations stopped. Instantly Punk thought about AJ being in danger somewhere with Corey. What if she was hurt? What if Corey ended the call? AJ needed his help, and he needed to get there fast.

"Who was it?" Kofi asked, watching Punk show various expressions on his face.

"We'll talk later, I gotta run, fast." Punk said, slapping Kofi on the back before sprinting in the direction of the hotel two blocks away.

"Wait, where are you going!?" Kofi called out behind him. He watched as Punk sprinted off into the distance. Shaking his head he took his own phone out of his pocket and began to call Miz, there was no way he was running back to the bus alone.

Punk continued to run as fast as his legs would take him. His knees would buckle every so often and he'd feel as though he was about to faceplant the ground. The surroundings turned into one blurred canvas and Punk could see nothing but the sidewalk before him. He kept to a strict breathing rate so he wouldn't exhaust himself too quickly. His mind became numb as he focused on only one thought, protecting the woman he was too 'tough' to admit he was in love with.

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**_Hope you liked this chapter guys, like I said the next one will be set at the same time but from AJ's point of view up to the point where she calls Punk, then it will go back to normal! Don't forget to review and let me know what you think :D_**


	12. Chapter 11 (Part 2)

_Part two - Events from the previous chapter from AJ's point of view._

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AJ stopped at the nearest smoothie bar on her way back to the hotel. Right now all she needed was an ice-cold fruit drink. She walked up to the counter clutching her money in her hand, with her Hello Kitty bag strapped onto her back.

"Hey, welcome to the Smoothie Shack! What can I get a fine young miss like you today?" The guy behind the counter flirted. He winked at AJ but she wasn't paying any attention as she admired the menu.

"Umm, I'll just take a Tropical Crush, please." AJ smiled. She crumpled the notes up in her hand and waited for the guy to put her order into the cash register.

"Okay, that's a dollar fifty-five please" He said trying to make his face irresistible. AJ just smiled at him politely and placed her money on the counter. She did her best to make sure her hand didn't touch his as he grabbed for her payment almost immediately. Whilst she saw the workers behind turning on the machines she moved to the end of the counter to wait for her order to be ready. Tapping her fingers on the counter she licked her lips as the smell of the fresh fruit danced up her nose. She couldn't wait to guzzle her own smoothie down and forget about her morning blues.

A tanned girl walked over to where AJ was standing and placed her drink down in front of her. "You ordered a Tropical Crush, right?" She chirped. AJ nodded her head silently and gave a toothy smile to the girl.

"Yeah that's me!" She said as she reached out for the plastic cup.

"I have to say it's a great choice! When I take my breaks I always make one for myself, it just has the right fruit combination." The girl said pleasantly.

AJ didn't want to get caught up in the lift stories of a girl she'd met 5 seconds ago and turned to walk away, leaving the girl giggling a little.

"Hey, hold up!" She said calling out, reaching out to try and grab AJ's backpack to hold her back.

AJ turned firmly on her heels and waited for the girl to explain herself. She glanced at her watch dramatically to try and deliver the message that she was in a hurry.

"I…I hope I'm not wrong, but aren't you that wrestler…" she rubbed her head as she tried to work out AJ's name. "That's it!" She said triumphantly, snapping her fingers. "You're AJ Lee!" She said excitedly.

AJ sighed rather heavily but put on a smile. "Yup, that's right. Now do you want a picture or something? I don't want to be mean but I sort of have somewhere to be." She said, smiling faintly.

"Oh would you? Oh, thank you so much!" The girl replied, scuttling through the 'employees only' door to go and get her iPhone. She came hurrying back with the camera app already open. Holding her phone out before them they both smiled and she snapped the shot. AJ stepped away from her a little as the girl thanked her. "You're honestly the nicest person I've ever met! Have a nice day!" She waved as AJ left the smoothie bar.

She stood outside, the sunshine powering down upon her. She walked over to a flowerbed outside the bar and placed her smoothie cup down on the bricked outline so she could pull out her phone and call a cab. Pressing her phone up against her ear she sipped her smoothie delightfully and waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

Much to her dismay, AJ spent another 5 minutes arguing with the cab company who couldn't pick her up for another 25 minutes. She tried telling them who she was, but they told her they'd never heard of the WWE, yeah right.

In a bit of a disappointed mood, AJ slumped herself down on the wall of the flowerbed and now began to guzzle her smoothie down, hoping to drown her sorrows in a load of tropical fruits. All of a sudden she saw two feet appear in front of her, and looked up rather nervously hoping it wouldn't be anyone she knew as she was starting to develop slight brain freeze.

It was the girl who served AJ her drink, although she looked a little different now. She wasn't wearing her orange apron and she'd wiped the fruit juice from the collar of her polo shirt. Her blonde hair was tied back into a rather cute up-do and AJ thought she looked considerably pretty.

"Hey um…I'm real sorry to bother you Miss Lee, but I couldn't help but notice you've been outside for a while now and I wondered if there was anywhere I could drop you to, it would be my pleasure." She gleamed.

AJ smiled limply and stood up before the girl. She was rather a lot smaller than her but that didn't really bother her, she was smaller than most people. "Thank you so much, but I'll be fine."

"But I thought you were in a bit of a hurry? Honestly, I'm not going to kidnap you! It's just one girl helping out another." She joked.

AJ drank the last bit of her smoothie and admitted she was in a bit of a dilemma. "I only need to get to my hotel down the street, it's not too far."

The smoothie girl smiled endlessly. "Of course Miss Lee, no trouble!"

AJ slam dunked her empty juice cup into the nearest trashcan and rubbed her hands together. She was a bit nervous about travelling with a stranger, but what the heck! She was a professional wrestler and could take this girl down in under a second. "Okay thanks, but first of all call me AJ, I hate being referred to as a Miss." AJ laughed. The girl nodded back at her, looking a little star struck that she was about to escort AJ Lee to her hotel.

"I'm Bea, nice to meet you!" She said in a bubbly voice, taking AJ off guard with a hug.

"Well…nice to meet you too Bea. Let's go!" AJ said. She followed Bea over to her plum coloured car and watched as she used the keys to unlock it quickly. She gave AJ a hand gesture to wait a second as she climbed onto the drivers seat and began to throw stuff from the passenger seat into the back of the car. She brushed the cookie crumbs from the seat into the foot well and signalled that AJ could get into the car now.

She walked round to the passenger's side of the car and opened the door gently, getting in and shuffling around in the seat to get comfy, before slamming the door shut. Bea had now put the keys into the ignition and was ready to drive off. The first few minutes were rather awkward as AJ told Bea what hotel she was staying at, worrying if she'd see her appear outside her room every now and then, but she put it all to the back of her mind.

"It must be fun huh? Travelling around a lot. I give you kudos though, I could never leave behind my family and friends but you must be used to it by now." Bea said a little down heartened.

AJ sighed a little thinking about the reality of her career. She pushed the loose strands of hair behind her ears and locked her hands together on her lap. "Yeah I guess so, it's usually the hardest for the first six months, but then you make new friends who become your family so it's easy to adapt to." She replied. Thinking about all the amazing people AJ had met and all the friends she'd made brought a smile to her face.

"What about relationships? Have you ever dated a male in your business?" Bea said in a rather jokey way. AJ knew it was just an innocent question but she couldn't help but feel Bea was crossing the line. "No…no I haven't." AJ lied. "I think it's because you become such a close group of people it'd be like dating your own brother." She lied again, hoping Bea didn't know too much about her. Lying about Punk made her feel dirty, almost ill. She didn't want to keep him a secret but she couldn't exactly tell this stranger how she felt about him, especially as they weren't together anymore.

"Ew!" Bea squealed. "I just thought about dating my own brother, gross!" She laughed.

"Do you have a big family?" AJ questioned, trying to change the subject.

Bea nodded her head, keeping her eyes firmly on the road. "Uhuh, two brothers and a sister. All of us are very close especially me and my brother Jarod, he's my twin." She said proudly.

"Wow, that's pretty awesome." AJ agreed. Being a twin herself would freak her out she thought. Having someone that looked exactly like you didn't seem to appeal to her. She raised a hand to touch her face, thinking about there being another copy of herself out in the world.

Bea turned into the parking lot of AJ's hotel. She parked carefully, making sure not to hit the kerb and making sure she stayed within the lines of the parking spot. Turning off the ignition she patted her knees. "Well, here we are!" She said, turning to smile at AJ. She smiled at her once more and got out of her car, thanking her for the ride.

"Hey AJ, here's my number. I know it's a bit weird seeing as I don't really know you, but I sense something about you. I don't want to sound to bold but it seems like you've got a lot on your mind. I've been through some shit so if you need someone to vent to, call me." She said smiling sympathetically.

AJ reached back inside the car and took the piece of ripped paper from her. "Thanks Bea, I will." She said before turning to walk towards the entrance. As she got to the door she turned and watched Bea drive off in the opposite direction, giving her a little wave as she left. Before she walked inside she took off her backpack and fumbled around inside for her room key.

As she made her way into the hotel lobby after getting stuck in the revolving door several times as usual, a little notification popped up on her phone. With her electric blue painted nails she ran a finger across the screen to see her phone reminding her to pack her belongings for the road tomorrow.

Newly upset by the thought and effort of packing she took the elevator to her floor and entered the room. "Corey I'm…" AJ walked into the room and couldn't hear, or see Corey anywhere. "Hm." She shrugged not really caring.

She threw her bag onto the sofa and plonked herself down on the end of the bed, kicking off her converse. She began to look around the room, feeling rather relieved that Corey wasn't around when she noticed her suitcase on top of the wardrobe. She skipped over to it and jumped up several times trying to reach a handle to pull it down. With a scowl on her face she began to wonder who had put it up there, what a silly place to put a suitcase, on top of a wardrobe standing taller than her own arms could reach. She stomped her way over to the bed and unlocked her phone, going on her call log. She clicked on the top name without realising who it was. She hummed as she heard the phone ringing in her ear, then a sudden feeling of panic came over her. She pulled the phone to where she could see and noticed who she was calling, CM Punk.

Without hesitation AJ ended the call and threw her phone on the bed behind her. She sat there breathing quickly looking all around the room. Then, letting out a heavy sigh from the bottom of her lungs she began to giggle and skipped to the bathroom. Taking a shower would make things better.

The hot water ran down her body as AJ tousled her hair under the showerhead. The glass had steamed up, along with all the mirrors and metal towel racks. She sang carelessly at the top of her voice, wiggling her hips at the appropriate parts. Eventually when she realised that the hotel were charging her on a water meter she turned the taps of quickly and jumped out onto the mats on the floor. She grabbed a towel from the heated rack and rubbed it over her tanned body, eliminating any last water droplets.

She had just managed to get dressed in a new tank top and some black hello kitty sweat pants when she heard loud banging on the door.

"AJ! AJ let me in!" a familiar voice demanded outside. AJ rushed over to the door and twisted the handle, releasing the lock and swinging the door towards her. Punk pushed past her and ran into the room, looking all around before focusing his efforts back on AJ.

"Nothings – happened? He managed to force out between breaths.

AJ looked at him rather confused, "No Punk, I'm the only one here." She watched him as he was bent over, his hands resting on his knees as he breathed heavily, as if he'd ran all the way here in a hurry. "Umm, I don't mean to be rude but why are you here?" She quizzed.

Punk looked up at her, starting to regain strength. "You called?" He said rather confused himself.

AJ looked at him the burst out into laughter. She clutched her sides and let her head fall sideways, looking at him with an amused grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" He said rather angrily, now standing with his arms folded, a familiar scowl on his face.

"Oh, it's just I rang you because I needed help getting my suitcase down from the top of that wardrobe." She said, pointing over in the direction of said suitcase, "But clearly you ran all the way here thinking I was in trouble. That's cute Punk, real cute." She said sarcastically, trying to stop herself from laughing again.

Punk however did not look so amused. "Yeah, I was worried, so? Whatever." He mumbled. AJ stood there for a few minutes staring at him whilst he gazed at the floor, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, d'you want to get my suitcase down?"

"Since when—"

"Well I just thought since you're here you might as well make use of your time, right?" She said cheekily, biting her lip and turning her head to the side, smiling seductively at him.

He rolled his eyes at her once more and walked over to the wardrobe. Leaning up he grabbed the suitcase by the available handles and lowered it down and onto the bed behind him. AJ clapped with joy, jumping up and down. She skipped over to Punk and threw her arms around him, clasping them together around his neck. "Thank youuuuu!" She cried happily.

"Don't worry, it's just a suitcase." He replied, lightly wrapping his hands around her tiny waist. She pulled away suddenly, when Punk was not ready to let go. Making eye contact with him AJ could see what he wanted and was quick to make her feelings known.

"I think we should just be friends Punk." She spat out quickly.

Punk stepped back from her, shaking his head slightly, "What?"

AJ gulped and held her hands behind her back, swaying on her feet a little. "I think it's better if we just stay…friends." She said in her best positive tone. She could see the emotion in Punks face change, and could tell he was not happy with it, but she let him convince her that he was. "Uhh…okay. Yeah, you're right. Friends."

AJ looked at him curiously; sometimes she wished he'd just come out with it. "I'm sorry about what happened this morning. I didn't mean what I said, it's just…"

Punk saw her struggling with words and stopped her mid sentence, opening his own mouth. "It's okay, I asked a ridiculous question." AJ saw him shiver as he recalled the morning's events. They stood across the room now, awkwardly shifting their eyes from the floor to each other.

"I mean…" AJ perked up. "I'd rather not think about anything we've been through, and I know to you it might seem a little bit sudden for me to be having a change of heart…since I told you I hated you, but I just thought about how all this fighting isn't good for either of us, and maybe being friends would make things easier?" AJ's words began to get quieter towards the end of her sentence. Currently, she was standing across the room from the man she thought was the sexiest guy on the planet, and she was putting him in the friend zone? What was she thinking, oh AJ?

Punk nodded at her rather disappointedly. He began to play with his lip ring, which was beginning to make AJ get seriously hot and sweaty so she had to look at a picture of Corey to turn herself off. Who would have thought she'd be using images of her current boyfriend to stop herself from completely annihilating Punk's lips with her own. Instead she just gave him a solemn smile, hoping he'd accept her sudden change of mind.

"Well AJ, if that's what you want, fine." He replied, his words still a little stale and unkind. AJ knew deep down that neither of them just wanted to be friends, but heck it seemed to be for the best.

"Does this mean we're cool?" AJ asked, twinkling her eyes at Punk.

He couldn't help but resist smiling back. He laughed a little, looking down at the floor then back up at her. "We've always been cool."

"Good." AJ said, giving him a loving smile. Slowly she made her way over to him and nestled into his chest as she hugged him delicately. She closed her eyes as she lay her head down on him and inhaled his familiar scent. Punk ran his hands through her fringe before wrapping his own arms around her. Neither of them would admit this hug was lasting a little too long, but hey, they were 'just friends' right?

* * *

SPOILER: _Opening eyes to a dazed world, the only vision to be seen was that of blue and red flashing lights. "It's okay. Don't wriggle, you're in safe hands. We're the paramedics, we've come to take you to hospital." The sounds of the arena were muffled and nothing much could be heard. The bruises and blows felt heavy against the ribcage lying inside their body. A groan managed to leave their lips, their eyes partially opening through the swelling around them. The pain ran through along with the lasting blood, managing to reach all the vital organs in enough time. A lot of panicking voices rumbled around, and outcries from what sounded like a female? "No! No, that's my...my best friend! You can't-"__  
_

_"Maam, calm down, we're taking your friend to safety, it's alright." The male paramedic comforted. The female struggled under the grip of the paramedic, her screams turning into cries. She became weak and allowed herself to fall to the floor, black streaks of mascara running tracks down her cheeks, her beauty being hidden by a face of confusion and utter __terrified thoughts. _

_He stood there with his head in his hands, hoping any sign of emotion wouldn't leak from his eyes. A confession lay on the tip of his tongue, ready to be shouted out for the world to hear. The guilt had become a pain, almost as if someone was repeatedly opening the same wound with a dirty dagger, exploiting the human body to all kinds of disease and virus, enough to end a life. No sympathy was to be felt, there was always the possibility it would be seen as an accident, even if the naive workers heard that from a witness. _

_It was almost as if the world had stopped and an unrealistic reality had taken over. Something you never expected to happen had just taken place before loved ones, and there was nothing anyone could do to turn back time and gain back the power to stop this unfortunate event. As the blue and red lights got fainter and the sound of screeching sirens could no longer be heard, the entire backstage became a black hole. Sounds of despair and tears were now reality, and it all rested on the shoulders of one individual. One distorted phrase echoed silently through his head "...deserved it...deserved it." Would they make it, had the pressure of the blows been too much for one individual to handle? The worst had become the now, and the only thing to do was to wait, hoping day after day that there wouldn't be a single death to mourn._

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**_So there! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but also THE SPOILER! Who has been hurt? What's happened, and who is to blame? My next upload might be a little delayed, which is why I've left you all with this spoiler to think about._**

**_Don't forget to leave your awesome reviews, as always :D Have an awesome day guys._**


	13. Chapter 12

AJ woke up with a pounding headache. The sun was escaping through the blinds causing the room to fill with the natural light AJ would usually enjoy. Instead she hid her head under the plump pillow and groaned a little. With no idea of the time she began to wriggle around in the bed finding she was rather uncomfortable. Revealing her head once more she looked down to find she was still in her clothes from last night, and couldn't seem to recall anything that had happened. The last thing she remembered was sitting down with Punk on the end of the bed after receiving a text from Corey saying he wouldn't be coming back to the room that night. She hadn't thought anything of it when in the company of Punk, however now she was beginning to work herself up.

Dragging her heavy bones out of bed she knocked her watch off of the bedside table and let her shoulders drop with frustration, not bothering to pick it up. As she rubbed her eyes she could see across the room there was a sticky note stuck to the front of the TV. She thought maybe Corey had let himself in and left some sort of explanation as to where he'd been, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Walking towards it she began to notice the scrawled note was in Punk's writing. She reached the TV and took it off carefully, making sure she wasn't leaving any of the sticky behind.

_I paid the bill for the rental movie,_

_you can thank me later_

_Hope Corey didn't leave you all night alone_

_Punk_

AJ blinked several times, realising now would be an opportune time to try and recall what had happened. Her stomach began to feel funny as she thought of all sorts of possibilities. Well, they didn't do anything they shouldn't have. As she closed her eyes it was like watching a movie. She could see herself and Punk sat on the end of the bed watching the movie they'd rented from the hotel. She could feel herself getting more and more tired until she switched to a lying down position, next thing she knew she had woken up in bed. Punk must have let her fall asleep then moved her up and under the covers, how sweet of him.

She smiled down at the note once more, clutching it in her palm before she turned towards the bathroom; she didn't need anyone to tell her how bad her breath smelt. As she strolled towards the door she saw the closet door open and stopped instantly. Her heart began to beat fast as she noticed Corey's gym bag was gone, and she was pretty sure it was there last night. He'd been in the room. AJ began to pant much like Nacho would after a long walk. What if he'd seen the note, he would know she'd been with Punk? What if he thought they'd _done stuff? _He'd never forgive her. She sniffed a few times to stop herself from crying and knew just what she had to do.

As she plunged herself down on the end of the bed, folding her legs up underneath her, she scrolled through her contacts to find her mom's number. As she listened to the dialling tone she nibbled her pink fingernails nervously.

"Hello?" came the response in a familiar, slightly posh tone.

"Hey mom, it's AJ"

She heard a gasp on the other end and a little squeal, clearly her mother was glad to hear from her.

"AJ darling! How are you? What state are you in, or town…oh where are you? How's Corey? Are you training again, I heard you resigned!" The questions came all at once and AJ didn't know where to start.

"Well mom, I'm actually in Texas at the moment doing shows since I've resigned, yes. I actually wanted to talk to you about Corey…" AJ paused for a moment, hoping her mother wouldn't interrupt with another bunch of questions.

"Yes dear, what's happened? He hasn't proposed has he!?" Her mum squealed. AJ rolled her eyes and shuffled uncomfortably on the end of the bed.

"No mom, he hasn't. It's just I'm not sure I can…"

"You know when you first met him I knew he was a keeper, I have to say he is definitely a few steps up from your last romance, what was his name….Punk? C Punk?" AJ heard her father give his input in the background, correcting her mom on the name she was looking for.

"CM Punk! That was it, yes your father and I didn't think very highly of him at all."

AJ gulped hard into the speaker, remembering the time her parents found out that she was dating Punk. He'd never met her parents properly, but since they'd both seen him on TV, and greatly disliked his '_attitude_', they never really inquired as to how he was, and were more than overjoyed when she decided to move home without him, although they knew he made their daughter happy.

AJ's mom began to catch onto her silence. "You're not back with him are you?" She asked.

"I wish" AJ mumbled

"Sorry dear, I didn't quite catch that, your father has the television up rather loud."

"Oh I didn't say anything. Well, anyway I need to ask for some advice, it's just Corey and I haven't exactly been getting on recently, and I'm scared it's going to get worse." AJ avoided telling her mom about the violent outbursts he was prone to. Her mum sighed on the other end of the phone, fearing for the wellbeing of her daughter.

"Oh AJ why didn't you just say so! If you aren't getting on with him, he has to go! You can't waste precious time on a man you don't really love, let alone like. Just do it gently dear, you know what men can be like, although I'm pretty sure he wouldn't hurt you."

A single tear rolled down AJ's cheek. She wanted to tell her mom the truth, about how she's grown scared of Corey, and how he's hit her, and how she just wants to come home but she knew that would only make things a whole lot worse.

"You're right mom." AJ finally replied, her voice quivering a little. "You're right, thanks mom! I've got to go now, but I'll call you again soon I promise!"

"Okay baby, stay safe." Her mom said before hanging up.

AJ lowered her phone away from her ear slowly, ending the call on her end. She sat in the silence for a moment and figured there was only one person she could go to, and she was in the right town to do so.

* * *

She stood awkwardly on the decking outside Kaitlyn's house. She waited nervously, biting her nails again, for her best friend to answer the door and invite her inside, having no idea what to do if there was no answer. Just as she was about to turn away the door opened followed by a high pitched scream and a sudden attack hug.

"OH MY GOD AJ! I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!" Kaitlyn screamed as she hugged her tighter. AJ began to smile and hugged back, so happy to receive such a warm welcome.

"Come inside and tell me about _everything_ that has happened since I last saw you." Kaitlyn beckoned, grabbing AJ's wrist and pulling her alongside herself as she shut the door behind them.

Kaitlyn's house was very…well Kaitlyn. The living room was a big open plan space, joining the kitchen, dining room and living room together. The kitchen was separated off by the counters, and had different wooden tiles on the floor. Kaitlyn sat herself down on the red and white checked couch and tapped the cushion beside herself, inviting AJ to join her. AJ put her small bag down on the coffee table in front of them and kicked her shoes off, before crossing her legs on the couch beside Kaitlyn.

"So girl, I haven't seen you in ages! How are things with Corey, I heard about you two and I hope you two haven't done anything I should know about!" Seeing Kaitlyn so excited and talking about her boyfriend was too overwhelming, and AJ burst into tears, which caught her friend a little off guard.

"Hey…um AJ don't cry! What's up?" She asked tenderly, leaning over to put her arms around her petite friend.

AJ lifted her hand and used the back of it to wipe away her tears and dry her cheeks. She sniffed a little as Kaitlyn pulled away and looked at her sympathetically. "I hate him Kaitlyn, I hate him." AJ managed to splutter out. Kaitlyn frowned a little, not completely understanding. AJ realised it wasn't totally apparent that she still had a bruise on her face as she was getting better at covering it up. She leaned over to grab her bag and pulled out her handy make up remover, she carried it with her in case she needed to touch up her appearance but made a slight error. Dabbing a little onto one of the little pads she kept with it, she rubbed her face to remove her toned foundation and revealed the now purple jagged mark on her skin.

Kaitlyn clasped her hands over her mouth, gasping. "Please, please dear god tell me he didn't do that to you." Her eyes began to fill with tears as she imagined the trauma AJ must have suffered.

"I wish I could." AJ said, her voice still a little shaky. She bit her lip and lowered her head, staring at her legs. She didn't want to cry anymore, she just wanted to ask Kaitlyn to help her resolve things.

"Why, girl I don't understand. You've got to get away from him, do whatever you can to escape, you can stay here! I'm not letting you go back near him." Kaitlyn rambled.

"It's okay, I've got Punk, he knows what happened and I think he'll look out for me." AJ wasn't sure if that was true, but she liked to believe it was.

"Oh good, Punk will put him in his place. Does this mean you and Punk are talking again?"

AJ nodded her head and used a delicate finger to wipe under her eyes, being careful not to smudge any of her lasting eye makeup. She looked up at Kaitlyn and forced a smile upon her face to try and reassure her friend that she was okay.

"Aw babe, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." She said leaning over once more and hugging AJ tight. AJ told her it was okay and wrapped her arms around Kaitlyn.

* * *

Corey stormed around behind the scenes of the arena, dragging his arms along tables and knocking the standing water bottles onto the floor, hoping to drive his anger out from his veins. His eyes scanned each pathway, each corridor. He was looking for the one man he despised, the one man he blamed for ruining his life, and his relationship.

Punk stepped out of his tour bus and into the parking lot, carrying his bag of necessities along with him. He had his headphones on blocking out everything around him, when suddenly they flew off his head and onto the floor as he was jumped from behind. The rims scuffed and lay under the bus whilst Punk's bag dropped by a tour bus wheel, the fabric splitting slightly. Punk heaved his head up after it had smashed against the ground, managing to catch a glimpse of the attackers face before a fist met his eye. The repeated punching was beginning to pose a weakness upon the bone around eyes when he managed to grab the attacker's shirt and throw him off of his body and onto the floor beside him. Punk could feel his left eye throbbing as she shook his head quickly to try and rid himself of the pain. He looked down to see Corey rolling around on the gravel, preparing himself to get up.

"You son of a bitch." Punk snarled before kicking Corey in the stomach several times, but to his surprise Corey grabbed his leg and once again smashed Punk's body against the ground. Punk let out a yelp as he felt his spine graze sideward through his zip hoodie.

"You're going to pay for everything you've done to me! I know you were with AJ last night, what the hell do you think you're doing. You just don't seem to get the hint that I'll hurt you, just like I've hurt her."

Punk didn't need any more stimulation than to hear the confession leave Corey's lips. He heaved himself up and squared up against Corey before throwing the first punch as a low blow to his stomach. Corey stumbled backwards slightly, but came back harder than ever. He grabbed Punk's shirt and began to throw punches to his jaw. The pain didn't come lightly, and Punk could have sworn he heard something snap, but nonetheless he managed to fight Corey off a little and threw a few punches back at Corey's face, leaving bruises all along his cheek bones and splitting his lip.

The blood from Punk's mouth began to drip down his chin and onto his t-shirt. The pain had almost become numb as more blows were thrown and more blood splattered from their faces. Punk gave Corey a sadistic smile as he began to dominate, holding Corey up against his bus, sending his fists rocketing at his rib cage.

* * *

AJ had shared one drink with Kaitlyn and then headed back to the arena. She felt a lot better after getting some sympathy from her best friend and was ready to face whatever words Corey would throw at her when she broke up with him, for once she would dominate their relationship. She pulled into the car park of the arena and drove over to her allocated parking spot. As she hummed along with the radio she could hear cursing and echoing bellows of voices. Turning the volume totally down it sounded as if there was a fight going on. She looked in her rear mirror to see two men fighting over by Punk's tour bus. Leaving her keys in the ignition she got out of the car as fast as she could, craning her head to see if she could identify them, but it didn't take long before she felt her stomach plunge.

"Punk! What are you doing?" She screamed, flailing her arms in the air. She began to run over to the bus as fast as she could, and the closer she got her vision adjusted to see Punk barely standing on his own two feet as Corey held him there, repeatedly knocking his fists into Punk's already scarred face. AJ continued to scream as she got close. She jumped on Corey's back, wrapping her arms around his neck trying to pull him off of a damaged Punk. Tears ran furiously down her cheeks and she cried harder than she ever had before. Her vision was blurred as she cried and all she could see was a red mess all over Punk's face before Corey loosened her grip around his neck. She fell suddenly to the floor, her elbows shooting pain through her arms as they hit the ground first. Instantly they began to sting as the skin was grazed, but AJ didn't have time to think about herself. She could see Punk slipping further and further, his legs giving way as he tried so desperately to throw equalizing punches back at Corey, however he was at a disadvantage.

Still crying, AJ looked around frantically for something, anything she could use. Suddenly her head stopped spinning as her eyes focused on a light metal pole on the floor by an adjacent car. She stumbled a little at first but managed to make her way towards it to pick it up. From that moment on everything became a blur, she ran back as fast as she could and swung the bar up against Corey's head, splitting the skin and leaking his boiling blood all over the floor and her hands. She dropped the bar and it rolled under the bus, so shocked with what she had done. Corey was knocked unconscious on the floor, and as his grip released on Punk, Punk himself crashed down into a heap, blood still pouring from his face. AJ knelt down beside him, still crying, and tried to wipe away some of the blood with her hands. By this time a crew member noticed the scene and had called an ambulance which appeared within minutes. The paramedics got out and told the arena medics they could take it from there. AJ hadn't noticed anyone arrive as she was busy helping Punk back to his feet. As soon as he was standing she turned to see two men in green uniforms putting Corey onto a stretcher.

* * *

Opening eyes to a dazed world, the only vision to be seen was that of blue and red flashing lights. "It's okay. Don't wriggle, you're in safe hands. We're the paramedics; we've come to take you to hospital." The sounds of the arena were muffled and nothing much could be heard. The bruises and blows felt heavy against the ribcage lying inside his body. A groan managed to leave Corey's lips, his eyes partially opening through the swelling around them. The pain ran through along with the lasting blood, managing to reach all the vital organs in enough time.

A lot of panicking voices rumbled around, and outcries from what sounded like a female? "No! No, that's my...my best friend! You can't-"

"Maam, calm down, we're taking your friend to safety, it's alright." The male paramedic comforted. AJ struggled under the grip of the paramedic, her screams turning into cries. She became weak and allowed herself to fall to the floor, black streaks of mascara running tracks down her cheeks, her beauty being hidden by a face of confusion and utter terrified thoughts.

Punk stood there with his head in his hands, hoping any sign of emotion wouldn't leak from his eyes. A confession lay on the tip of his tongue, ready to be shouted out for the world to hear. The guilt had become a pain, almost as if someone was repeatedly opening the same wound with a dirty dagger, exploiting the human body to all kinds of disease and virus, enough to end a life. No sympathy was to be felt, there was always the possibility it would be seen as an accident, even if the naive workers heard that from a witness.

It was almost as if the world had stopped and an unrealistic reality had taken over. Something you never expected to happen had just taken place before loved ones, and there was nothing anyone could do to turn back time and gain back the power to stop this unfortunate event. As the blue and red lights got fainter and the sound of screeching sirens could no longer be heard, the entire backstage became a black hole. Sounds of despair and tears were now reality, and it all rested on the shoulders of one individual. One distorted phrase echoed silently through his head "...deserved it...deserved it." Would they make it, had the pressure of the blows been too much for one individual to handle? The worst had become the now, and the only thing to do was to wait, hoping day after day that there wouldn't be a single death to mourn.

He watched as AJ was comforted by a female paramedic, she was sitting on the floor covering her eyes with her blood covered hands. He knew what she'd done. She'd saved him. He wanted to go over and take her in his arms, tell her she did the right thing but he could see a doctor heading his way. His face was no longer recognisable as blood streaked down from every wound left behind.

"Sir, I'm going to need for you to come over to my ambulance, I think we need to get you cleaned and stitched up."

Punk didn't hear anything that was said to him. He thought about what would happen if they found out what AJ had done, although there were no other witnesses. He knew he'd banged Corey up pretty bad himself, but then again he was standing here losing blood himself. Anger began to build up inside of him, he couldn't understand how Corey could be so comfortable admitting how he treated AJ, and Punk began to smile as he realised what he'd done. He'd taught him a lesson if anything.

"Sir..." The paramedic pestered.

"Oh yeah yeah." Punk replied, following him over to the back of another ambulance.

AJ sat still on the floor as the female paramedic cleaned up the grazes on her elbows. She put some sort of sterilized plaster over them and told AJ she would be okay, and asked if she wanted to go and see her other friend, meaning Punk. AJ looked over in Punk's direction, seeing him flinch as his face was cleansed. She cringed at the blood stained wipes and watched as another paramedic proceeded to stitch up his face. Then, she looked over at the now formed crowd of Superstars and Divas just outside the entrance to the parking lot, they all watched as the scene was cleared and Corey was driven away to hospital. AJ then looked back down at the floor. "No." She replied.

* * *

**I'm so sorry for such a long wait for this chapter, things have been super hectic and I've been planning further chapters also, but I should be back to regular updates now! I hope this fulfills your expectations and was worth waiting for! Let me know what you thought and review, thanks for reading :D**


	14. Chapter 13

Punks eyes burnt as he opened them, his eyelids were heavy and he felt as though he was sleeping under a ton of bricks. Kofi had turned the lights on in his bedroom and was standing beside the bed with a glass of water and some tablets.

"Stop squinting and open your eyes man! I bet your body hurts huh, that's what you get when you don't play nice. Now drink this water and you'll be fine."

Punk fixed his eyes on the tablets in Kofi's other hand. "I'm not taking those." He said sternly, grabbing at the water.

"They're not for you; I'm taking these for added protein." Kofi replied, handing the water to Punk. He guzzled it down in seconds, shaking his head afterwards and placing the empty glass down beside the bed. He then shuffled his body round to sit on the edge and put his head in his hands. "Have you heard from AJ?"

Kofi gulped and sighed a little. "Yeah, I have."

"What did she say? Is she alright?" Punk inquired, raising his head to look at Kofi who was shifting about on his feet awkwardly.

"I don't think you wanna know man…"

"Kofi please"

Kofi sighed and looked up at the ceiling before continuing. "Well AJ's fine herself, she said the police have been asking her what she witnessed and have been asking about you, but then there's Corey…" His voice droned out.

"What? What about Corey?" Punk was beginning to get worked up at Kofi's lack of response.

"The hospital put him into an induced coma. They said it'll only be for a few weeks as he really couldn't deal with the pain. He's suffered a few broken ribs and a fractured skull and until they heal its better he just…well just can't move I guess."

Punk shuddered at Kofi's words. He felt a tingle run down his spine as he bit his lip, tearing half the skin off. He didn't think what he'd done had been so serious and was beginning to regret everything. Although, the fractured skull was AJ's doing, but nobody was to know that. Punk had to protect her; she didn't need to be involved in this mess at all.

* * *

Every five minutes AJ would wake up again, thinking it had all been a dream until she noticed her surroundings and saw Corey in the hospital bed, then she'd cry. The constant bleep of the heart monitor echoed through her head as she watched the bed sheets move up, and down. Corey may have been in a coma but it just looked as though he was sleeping. AJ would eventually fall asleep gently, but then be nastily awoken as a bed was pushed down the hallway, or the phone rang and was left unanswered. However this time she didn't fall back asleep. She grabbed her phone from the small table next to the chair she was sitting on and pressed the home button. Technically she wasn't supposed to have it turned on but she had never been one for following rules. Plenty of messages were awaiting a response, superstars and divas sending their love for AJ to pass onto Corey, which he would never receive. Seeing the large number beside the little inbox icon made AJ put her phone back down, she didn't feel like talking to anyone right now.

Instead she took a walk down to the hospital cafeteria. She walked past the pregnancy ward and saw plenty of fathers-to-be pacing up and down as they waited for the arrival of the little bundles of joy. She also walked past the accident and emergency ward and turned her head to see the numbers of people with broken bones. Suddenly she stumbled forward but was caught in the arms of another. A young male nurse dropped all his papers to catch AJ so she didn't hit the ground.

"Don't want to waste the time of another beautiful girl in the accident and emergency ward!" He joked. He had short-ish messy hair that formed a sort of quiff at the front of his head. He had bright blue eyes that had clearly charmed many girls into his arms for one night stands, and pristine glowing teeth as he smiled at her.

"Thanks…Zack" She said as she traced her finger across his nametag. As she stepped back she felt a piece of paper crumple under her converse, so she dropped on her knees to help pick it up. The two of them managed to pick it all up rather quickly before engaging in further conversation.

"Thanks for that, you didn't have to help me." He said quickly flashing her a dazzling smile.

"It's okay, you saved my butt so I saved yours." AJ said, forcing a smile onto her face. The two of them stood before each other just smiling for a bit.

"I should-"

"-yeah me too." AJ said before quickly walking down the hallway, following the signs to the cafeteria.

* * *

Punk had made it to the fridge and had made a protein shake without collapsing. His entire body ached and moving had become far too much effort. After hearing what had happened, Punk had received calls from friends to check he was okay, which he always assured them he was. He sat himself down on the bench and drank his protein shake rather quickly. His mind kept focusing on thoughts of AJ, sitting all alone in a hospital room, probably crying herself to sleep. Punk did his best to convince himself it was best to stay away, until he remembered how much her eyes would light up when she saw him, and how tight she would squeeze him when she was happy to see him. There was always the chance that if he was to show up she'd force him out of the building, but then again the positives outweighed the negatives.

Dragging himself off the sofa he stumbled into the bathroom to freshen up. Whilst in the shower Punk looked over his body, running his fingers over all the bruises and cuts he had acquired from the fight. His ribcage was rather bruised, and his back was hurting a lot although he couldn't see anything without a mirror. He washed his hair and did his best to raise his arms enough to rub in the shampoo and wash it out. When he got out he stood in front of the mirror and turned to look at his back. He had a fair amount of bruises going down his spine and the odd cut here and there, nothing too major until he looked at his face. His left eye had a purple-y red shadow around it, with his eyelid being completely bruised. In fact, the entire left side of his face wasn't too pretty; there was a long line of bruises down his jaw line, not to mention the stitches just above his eyebrow. Punk shrugged off his new acquired look as he turned to open the nearest drawer in search of his aftershave. He found it in the second drawer from the bottom and sprayed it over his chest. It was the usual musky scent he liked, and apparently AJ was very fond of himself. He got dressed in one of Kofi's black t-shirts and some jeans before standing in front of the mirror, glaring at himself. Maybe AJ seeing him would bring back bad memories, but he didn't care, he just wanted to be there for her.

_Are you falling for her again Punk? What?_

He shook his head as his emotions began to get the best of him as he left the bathroom and walked out into the main lounge area to put his sneakers on. He grabbed his phone from the counter and headed for the door of the bus, this was going to be a long day.

* * *

**_Hey guys! Sorry for so long of a wait and such a short upload, I didn't want to add too much drama as the coming chapters are going to be very long! I promise I'll try post them super soon so you don't have to wait so long! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think of the story so far, that'd mean a lot! You're all awesome :D_**


	15. Chapter 14

Punk wrinkled his nose the moment he walked into the hospital. The smell sent a chill down his spine and brought back memories of MRI scans and checks ups on various injuries he tried to forget. Keeping his head down low he walked over to the desk.

"Can I help you sir?" The posh woman behind the desk looked at Punk's heavily tattooed arms and bruised face as a rather disgusted expression appeared on her face.

"Um yeah, I'm here to visit Corey."

She looked at him blankly. He stared back.

"Corey…." She said, insinuating that he should continue.

Punk continued to stare at her, slouching in front of the desk. He didn't have time for this.

"Corey what?" She asked irritably.

"Corey Graves, here with a small girl, brown hair…"

"Yeah I don't need all the details, he's in for a scan at the moment but you can make your way to the Islington Wing and wait outside with this girl who is supposedly there."

Punk gave her a sarcastic smile and waved goodbye, people these days. He trundled down the corridor, tapping his hand against his leg and looking for any visible signs as to where he should turn next. The last thing he wanted was to get stuck in a place full of sick people.

Following the confusing signs as best he could, he managed to stroll outside the consultation rooms and find a skittish AJ waiting up against the wall, biting her nails. The white clock above her was broken, but the constant ticking of the stuck second hand was a comfort to her, breaking the silence that was reality.

He wasn't sure how to approach her, so figured just walking up and leaning on the wall in front of her would work…well would have worked if AJ hadn't noticed him. Her face shone a glimmer of hope as she noticed him approaching and she ran to meet him halfway, practically jumping into his arms. She held on a little too long before realising it was awkward and let go abruptly.

Now standing her distance from him she looked up at his face and tears left her eyes. "He's practically gone Punk, he's gone." She stood still, waiting for a reaction to which CM Punk had no idea what to say. Raising a hand to wipe her tears she began to walk backwards away from him, still crying.

"AJ, it's okay. I'm…here." Punk said awkwardly.

AJ shook her head at him, the tears falling down onto her pink t-shirt and leaving a tiny stain. She began to tremble; the air conditioning was getting to her, as well as the fear. She looked through the window into the conference room. Doctors were sitting around a table, their mouths moving all at once, as if arguing his fate. She turned her attention back to Punk, who was looking at her nervously.

"They don't know what to do." She said, pointing at the door. "They want to bring him out of the coma, but don't think the pain has stopped." She stood still for a moment, dropping her head to the floor. Her arm fell down limp by her side as her whole body shook as she cried some more. Her chest hurt and she began to feel ashamed in herself. She couldn't bear to raise her head to meet Punk's eyes once more; she'd done this to Corey.

"What have I done?" The words escaped her lips slowly, and almost silently. Punk knew he should keep his distance, he wasn't to get involved, but he wanted to be there for her. Standing there was making him stiff, and his back was beginning to ache again. Not really feeling like himself, he walked over to her as she fell almost lifeless under his grip. He did his best to support her as she cried harder into his chest. He held her awkwardly in his arms, wondering what he was getting himself into.

Suddenly the doors opened quickly, and men in white coats all descended into the corridor. Two stopped to look at Punk, but quickly left around the corner. As AJ heard footsteps she pushed her way out of Punk's arms and grabbed the forearm of a young-ish doctor.

"What's happened? What did you decide? Please." AJ begged for answers.

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to give you information, Miss Lee, all I can say is for a while Corey won't be able to communicate, we're doing our best to keep him from any pain."

AJ let go of the doctor's sleeve and brought her hands up to her face. She cupped her mouth almost in disbelief. Her tears fell, as did her hopes. She began to think of the worst and followed the doctors around the corner. Punk didn't breathe a word but followed closely behind.

They went through some double doors when AJ turned the opposite way and down the Islington Ward. Punk followed her quietly into a separate room to find Corey lying on a bed. Nothing but wires could be seen, strapped to his hands, arms, chest, head. Punk felt his heart drop as he watched AJ. She sat down gently in the chair by his bedside. As one of his hands hung from the side she took it in hers, caressing the back of his hand with her thumb. She couldn't bear to look at his face as it upset her too much. For once she longed to hear his voice, for him to open his eyes and look at her in that dull way he always would. The heart monitor continued to beep, his constant sleep being prolonged. AJ was silent, not even a sniffle came from her. Tears fell from her eyes and into her lap, but she didn't make a sound. She just raised her head and looked at a lifeless Corey. Punk saw the emotion, the sadness and guilt in her eyes. He sighed deeply, seeing such emotion made him rather uncomfortable. He wanted to help her, but he knew she didn't want to be helped, not right now.

"I…I don't know if you can hear me Corey, I hope you can." AJ spoke in her tiny voice, sighing a little before continuing. "I…I don't like seeing you like this. I really don't, although I think it should be said you're beautiful when you sleep. I want you to know…I need you to know that I'm sorry. You know I've always loved you, and to see you this way breaks my heart. If you can hear me, I want you to know I'm sorry. I've…" She stopped, stuttering on her words and inhaling violently as she began to cry harder. "I've realised how bad, how terrible I've been to you. You were right, about everything. I deserve everything you've given to me, and if you were to wake up tomorrow, you better believe that I'd do anything to have you wake up, right? It's nobody's fault but my own, I put you in this state, and I deserve for you to dump me on the spot, I've hurt you more than ever." She began to caress his hand again, using her free hand to cover her face as the tears ran faster and faster. She held her hand over her mouth, just looking through her glass eyes at the damage she'd caused.

"Oh what have I done to you? I'm so sorry Corey, I'm…so…sorry." Her head fell down, her chin leaning on her chest. The reality became too much for Punk, he couldn't bear to hear AJ blame herself any more. He walked over to her, tapping her on the shoulder gently, making sure not to worry her. "C'mon, leave it now AJ, you don't mean this stuff."

AJ looked up at him with utter spite. "How dare you say that? I did this. I did it!" AJ said angrily, making sure not to shout. Punk rolled his eyes, losing patience quickly, not wanting her to blame herself.

"Even when he's not doing anything he's got control over you, don't you see? C'mon, I'm taking you out of here." He reached for her hand but she shuffled away.

"I'm not going anywhere, I need to be here for him." She said, looking at Punk in agonizing sadness. She then turned her view to Corey once more, her mind focusing on the bruises on his face and the inhumane wires attached to his fragile body. She felt herself become weak and her hand dropped away from his. She began to shake slightly, when Punk put his arms under hers and lifted her from the chair.

"C'mon, lets get you out of here."

He half-carried her to the door when she began to move herself properly again. With her head focused on the floor she let Punk take her all the way to the exit of the hospital without a fuss.

Punk managed to grab a taxi for them both back to where his bus was left. AJ wasn't sure where she was going but she had no strength to care. It wasn't until they got out and Punk paid the driver when she began to talk again.

"Why am I here?" She asked, looking up at him with a rather scared expression on her face.

"Because I'm not leaving you in that hellhole shaking like a wreck and pouring your heart out to a guy who probably can't even hear you, who also physically and mentally abuses you." Punk argued.

AJ ran the side of her hand under her eyes to wipe away the drying tears. Tucking her hair behind her ears she looked up at him and shook her head.

"He hit me once and…and…there's no mental abuse. You don't know what you're talking about!" She shouted defensively.

"AJ look at you! You've been in a hospital for an obscene amount of hours and you look like trash, clearly you haven't been taking care of yourself. Yet you still sit by his bedside and cry every hour and apologize for everything you're supposed to have done, yet you've done nothing and he's said nothing to make you feel guilty. He's fixed you into a mind set where you naturally walk around on eggshells in fear of messing up and making him look bad." Punk shouted back. He knew he was being rather mean, and AJ was pretty fragile, but he was known to always speak the truth, no matter how hard.

"What makes you think you can help me anyway Punk? Ever since I've been back here you've given me mixed signals. Started off hating my guts, and clearly you had made your mind up about Corey a long time ago. And now? Well you're trying to play the hero again. I don't need you Punk."

The clouds above them had suddenly got very grey and a flash of lighting brightened up the whole sky for a few seconds. Then came the rain. It had soaked the two of them in a matter of seconds, but being the stubborn people that they were, they continued to stand and argue out in the damp. The thunder rumbled as Punk laughed at AJ's argument.

"All I'm trying to do is help you out, if anything you're the one that's fucked around with me, all this 'lets be friends' shit, it would have been so much better if you'd stayed out of my way and I'd stayed out of yours, but your idiotic "boyfriend" had to keep pushing me further and further. Ever since that day you left me I've become more heartless than you would know, but you know what, I thought I was doing you a favour, since all your other "friends" you seem to have not bothered. So unless you want to stand out here in the rain I guess it looks like you're stuck with me." Punk had to raise his hands several times to mimic the speech marks, but he loved nothing more than winning an argument.

He pressed the button outside the bus door, the doors swinging open quickly. He stepped up and into the doorway, his legs parted fairly wide and his shirt sticking to his body.

"But I guess if you can't deal with that I could leave you out here." He smirked, moving his hand on the inside to press another button. Just as he was about to click it AJ stuck her hand against the door. Her hair was sticking down her back and she felt rather uncomfortable in these wet clothes, on the bright side you couldn't tell she'd been crying.

Punk went up and into the bus, allowing AJ the space to follow him inside. The doors shut out the rain and the cold, as the inside of the bus was warm and toasty.

Punk walked through the lounge and into his bedroom, leaving AJ standing, dripping on the carpet. He fumbled around inside drawers and cupboard before throwing a t-shirt and skinny jeans at AJ. She caught them perfectly, admiring them rather confused.

"I…I thought I'd lost these?" She said, holding them up before her and checking them all over.

Punk emerged back in the room, rubbing a towel on his head to dry his hair. "Don't look at them like that, there's nothing wrong with them. Just some stuff you left behind last time you were here."

AJ looked at him curiously, sniffling. "The last time I was here was over a year ago…Punk, why do you still have these?"

He took that as his cue to leave the room, mumbling something as he went. AJ couldn't help but smile to herself; he hadn't thrown them out for whatever reason. Although she still hurt a lot deep down, she was starting to cheer up a little.

Punk changed in the bathroom first, getting out of his soggy clothes and throwing them into an empty cupboard. He then allowed AJ to change whilst he paced the bedroom, wondering why the hell he was letting her stay here.

_I'm over her. She can stay here as a friend. What's Kofi going to say? Does she have to sleep here? I can't throw her out, she's broken. No Punk, no you do not have feelings for her._

Punk's mind was going crazy, and he was deep in thought when AJ appeared in front of him, making him stumble backwards.

"Where do you want me to put these?" She said, presenting a ball of her damp clothes. Punk opened the same cupboard he'd chucked his into.

"What…you can't just leave them in there?" AJ moaned.

"Well unless you're going to wash them, that's where they're staying." She looked up at him before her put his finger against her lip, "It's my bus."

AJ rolled her eyes and tossed her clothes in on top of his. She walked back into the lounge, looking around. So many good memories flooded back to her, as well as some bad ones. If Punk was letting her stay there tonight, it would be like taking a step back into the past, but not too far, she wasn't going to be getting all lovey with him tonight…

* * *

**Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was an emotional one to write and I hope I've captured the right emotions I wanted you all to feel :')**

**Let me know what you think, as always leave a review!**

**Want to thank you all for reading, have an awesome day :)) **


	16. Chapter 15

Curling her feet up under her, AJ rested her head on her shoulder, wrapping the blanket Punk had provided her with around her body just a little tighter. She watched him amorously as he typed away on his phone. Her mind wandered as she thought about whom he could be texting so late at night, ticking back to memories of how they'd stay up all night long messaging each other. She watched as his inked fingers moved across the small keyboard on his iPhone. Looking down at her own thumbs she twiddled them about, thinking about how she was going to get a tattoo across one thumb. She looked back up at Punk, when their eyes met.

"It'll get easier." He said calmly, smiling slightly from the corner of his mouth.

She nodded at him and nestled onto the sofa further. Closing her eyes for a little while she imagined the perfect scenario.

_Punk got up and walked towards the mini fridge, trying to make himself busy. He was contemplating going over to sit with her, but he didn't want to do it directly, so by taking a side track to the fridge he thought it'd look less planned._ _Rustling around in the fridge he heard AJ yawn a little, and then closed the door gently looking over his shoulder at her. Her delicate eyelids were closed and she was smiling a little in her sleep. Punk never was one to show much affection to anyone, in public or anywhere, but sometimes it sort of just took over him._

_Walking over to the sofa she was sprawled out on, he lifted her legs up and sat down, placing them on his lap. She stirred a little before opening her eyes and looking down at him at the end of the sofa. She gave him a tired smile before picking herself up and turning around on the sofa like a little puppy often does before settling down to sleep. She turned and laid her head on Punk's chest, sighing a little as she did. She then continued to fold her legs up and closed her eyes once more. She could hear Punk's heart beat through his t-shirt; it was almost comforting as she tried to sleep. He wasn't so heartless after all. She fell asleep to the sound of his breathing. _

_Punk himself had drifted off slightly, running his hands through her hair. She didn't mind if he pulled the odd time, she loved the way his hands ran across her head. It made her feel warm, and at peace. Punk rest his head on top of AJ's and closed his eyes, half asleep but still managing to move his hand simultaneously. Right now the moment was serene, not a word had to be spoken but the love still radiated between the two. Punk never had to tell AJ he loved her, she just knew, which made it easier on him. The way he would tease her every so often, and poke at her sides to make her giggle. He'd sit down with her when she was sad, and would bring her into his warmth, hugging her and telling her everything would be okay, although he couldn't guarantee it. The way he'd get so stubborn over the littlest things, making AJ laugh and mock him._

AJ's cheeks when a pale pink as she smiled at her dream. Punk was looking at her rather oddly, wondering what was going on inside that perfect head of hers. He watched as she ran a hand through her hair, pulling it all back away from her face, only for it to fall straight back into place. He didn't let any expression be visible on his face, he didn't want her to see that he was admiring her so deeply. Right now AJ was in a state of confusion, her 'boyfriend' not being around and all, it wouldn't be fair to try anything with her now, unless she was the one to start it.

All of a sudden the lights went out. A small warm glow came from Punk's bedroom down the far end of the bus, his bedside lamp was the only light available. Punk heard AJ gasp, and had to quickly reassure her. "Don't worry, I have all the lights set on an auto timer, they turn off at a certain time."

"Ahh, I see." AJ replied from the other side of the lounge. Punk could just about make out her silhouette, now sitting up on the sofa in the darkness. "I think I might try and get some sleep now anyway, like you said I look terrible as it is."

Punk chuckled at AJ's tone. "Alright, since Kofi isn't here tonight you can take his bed." Punk said, making his way over to AJ so she could see him and follow him. He beckoned her up with his hand and began to walk out of the lounge. As he got to the doorway he felt AJ push her small hand into his. He pulled away a little before she explained herself.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bang into anything." She said, a little embarrassed as she pulled her hand out of his. But he stopped her, and grabbed her hand tighter.

"It's alright, I don't want you getting a bruised face." He said calmly, leading her to the small bunk in the corridor leading to his bedroom. Feeling the wall with his free hand, he eventually found the light switch that turned on two dim spotlights above the bunk, illuminating the two of them. As they looked at each other in the light, they awkwardly pulled away from the hand holding and stood inches from each other in the tight space.

"Are you sure he won't mind me sleeping here?" AJ asked nervously.

"Nah, he's cool. Now you sleep." He replied, walking into his room. "I'll leave my door open in case you get scared or something" He teased. AJ just rolled her eyes without replying.

She pulled back the covers to the bunk and got inside, wrapping the covers up around her neck instantly. Her fingertips roamed the wall for the light switch, which she eventually found, sending the space into complete darkness again. Desperately trying to see she looked all around, not wanting to admit she usually slept with a small nightlight. Whenever she'd previously stayed with Punk, when they were together, he'd always forget to turn the bathroom light off so she'd feel comforted by that.

Her tired eyes began hallucinating all sorts of things all around her, as she raised the covers up further and further. She tried blinking hard and closing them for short periods of time, trying to make it stop. She craned her head round to see the small lamp still turned on in Punk's room.

After laying there in the darkness for about 10 minutes, AJ finally plucked up the courage to go to Punk. She flung the covers back and then made the bed neatly after her. She'd chosen to just sleep in the t-shirt, as it was rather baggy so she was pretty covered up. Almost like a little girl she tiptoed to CM Punk's doorway and stood there, leaning against it for a little while, until he eventually noticed her. Before he could even open his mouth AJ explained. "I can't sleep in the darkness, and I don't like being alone." She mumbled, a little embarrassed. "I was wondering if I could crash in here?"

Punk sighed; trying to hide the fact he thought she was being seriously cute. "Yeah, fine. As long as you don't snore."

"You know I don't snore." AJ replied, then realising the awkwardness between them.

She tiptoed to the foot of Punk's double bed and found a bunch of decorative cushions all piled at the end. She arranged them into a nice shape and bent down to get on the floor. Punk watched her, wondering what she was doing.

"AJ, you can come sleep _on _the bed, I'm not going to eat you." He laughed.

Her head popped up at the foot of the bed and she bit her lip, not wanting to make things any more awkward than they were turning out to be. "Okay, if you say so." She said, nervously again.

Hesitantly, she clambered up onto the sheets, pulling the duvet away from Punk's bare torso. Her small body was inhabited with nerves as she felt overly awkward as she slipped herself in beside him, trying to put as much distance between their bodies as possible. The room had suddenly become very stuffy and she wriggled around a bit to get comfortable.

"I forgot how much you move in your sleep." Punk moaned.

AJ rolled her eyes, trying not to make any eye contact. Gradually, AJ could see Punk moving closer to her, so without making it obvious she moved away each time he edged forward. He stretched his hand out, as if he was reaching for her, when AJ ran out of mattress, and landed on the floor with a thump. She opened her eyes after the fall to see Punk above her, a rather confused look on his face although he let out a light chuckle. AJ tried to laugh along, although she had no clue why he was finding this funny.

"What the fuck are you doing on the floor again? Are you really _falling _for me again?" Punk chuckled sarcastically.

AJ's face went a light shade of red as she realised her assumptions could have been slightly wrong.

"I wanted to turn the light off, and I'm quite capable of reaching around you." Punk said, patting the mattress to indicate she should get up.

She got up on her feet, running her hand through her hair and out of her eyes. She returned to her place next to Punk and pulled the covers up around her. "You could have just asked me to do it." She mumbled. With that Punk rolled over, smiling to himself and tried to get some sleep for once.

* * *

Punk lifted his heavy head from the pillow as the birds irritated him from outside the bus. He felt restricted under the sheets and tried to move around the best he could. Rubbing his eyes with his right hand, he looked down to find AJ's arm draped over his torso, so he craned his head round to find her snuggled up beside him, her head leaning against his back. He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh as he tried to gently lift her hand from his body. As soon as he took hold of her wrist, her arm jolted as she woke up, instantly realising her position. As quickly as she could, she pulled her hand away from his body and moved over the other side of the bed, rather embarrassed. Luckily Punk wasn't taking it too seriously as he rolled out of the bed and stumbled straight into the bathroom. She took it upon herself to also get up, and made the bed after him.

Whilst he took what seemed like an eternity, AJ tried looking inside his closet for a reasonably small t-shirt she could change into, as after she'd slept in the one he'd given her she didn't fancy being seen out in it.

Pushing hangers backwards and forwards she tried desperately to find something near her size. Eventually she came across an old comic book store shirt that was relatively small. She took it out and threw in on the bed, along with her skinny jeans she'd retrieved from the floor. She closed the closet door and changed as quickly as she could. The shirt fit better than she thought it would. Walking over towards the full length mirror in the corner of the room, she began to fiddle with her hair, wondering what she could do to tame it.

Punk left the bathroom after cleaning his teeth and stood in the doorway, watching AJ pull faces at herself in the mirror. He couldn't help but notice how good she looked, even in the mornings, and that's when he noticed the shirt.

"That was my old work uniform." He said, making AJ jump and turn around.

"Ah Punk, you scared me!" She scolded. She then looked down at the t-shirt and then back at Punk, striking a pose. "It suits me doesn't it? I hope you don't mind, I just wanted something fresh to wear." She explained.

Punk shrugged at her and made his way over to the closet, throwing the doors back to find something to wear himself. AJ watched as he picked out a Minor Threat logo shirt and some ripped jeans.

"You still dress like a band obsessed teen then?" She teased.

"And you still dress like a Japanese anime character, now shut up and go brush your hair or something."

AJ pretended to look offended, and skipped off towards the bathroom, smiling to herself.

"Get some shoes on, I want food." He called out after.

AJ's head appeared around the bathroom door just after Punk had finished putting his jeans on. "You mean you aren't cooking?" She said, with a sarcastic shocked look on her face.

He put his arms through his shirt and pulled it over his head, covering up his tattooed torso. "Of course I'm not, besides you look like you could do with a good meal inside of you."

AJ wasn't going to complain. She made her way into the lounge and found her converse by the sofa. They were still rather soggy on the inside, but she got over it and pushed her feet inside nonetheless. Punk came up behind her and patted her on the shoulder, before exiting the bus.

They walked down the quiet streets and found a rather hidden breakfast café. The paint was peeling off the door and the windows were rather misty, but the smell of a cooked breakfast smelt great through the crack under the door. Punk pushed it open as the little bell rang above their heads. A waiter appeared and showed them to a table right at the back of the restaurant. It was a quaint little place, with floral wallpaper and wooden flooring. The staff all looked similar so it was clearly a family run business, which usually made the overall atmosphere a ton better.

"I'll give you a few moments to decide." The waiter smiled, handing over the menus.

A silence fell on the table as both studied their options carefully. For a breakfast meal there was quite a lot to choose from; toast, eggs, bacon, soup. AJ's eyes fluttered across the pages as her stomach rumbled. The waiter then reappeared with a notepad and pencil, standing expectantly beside the table.

"Are you ready?" He inquired.

Punk looked at AJ to start the order off. "Well, I'll just have some toast and marmalade please, with a glass of apple juice." She said humbly, before looking back down at the menu to make sure she hadn't missed anything worth ordering.

"I'll get a toasted bagel please, butter on the side and a glass of orange juice wit-"

"Without any added bits." AJ finished, looking up from the menu at Punk, who was smiling at her. The waiter finished jotting down the order and retrieved the menus before leaving them alone.

"You still remember my order huh?" Punk chuffed.

"Of course, it's hard not to when we used to eat out every morning, besides you don't change things like that." She said, smiling back at him.

He shook his head, laughing at her.

"What?" She asked, smiling more.

"Nothing, nothing." He said, looking away.

AJ rolled her eyes at him and laughed a little, she'd missed spending time with him.

"So what are your plans for today then?" He asked.

She looked at him blankly. She really hadn't thought about moving away from Punk, it was almost as if they'd never broken up in the first place. Being with him was bad, as now she didn't want to leave him.

"Good." Punk said, picking up her vibe. "I know I'm probably the last guy on the planet that you want to spend the day with, but I'm gonna help you stop worrying about a man who clearly doesn't give two shits about you, and yeah, I'm feeling in a good mood today so shut up and don't mock me." Punk said, scowling a little.

AJ laughed and looked at him. Oh how she'd forgotten what he was like, how he was on a daily basis. "Punk, I honestly want to spend the day with you, because I think that-"

"Toast, madam?" The waiter said, appearing beside the table clutching a rack of toast, a plate and a bowl of mini butters.

"Oh…um yeah." She said, looking up at the man who interrupted her train of thought.

"And the toasted bagel for the gentleman." Said a female waiter, putting the plate down in front of Punk.

"Enjoy." They said in unison, before leaving the table.

Punk pulled his plate closer towards him before looking up at AJ. "What was you saying?"

She opened a mini butter and dug her knife into it, scooping it out and onto a slice of toast. "Oh, it was nothing." She shrugged, swallowing down her real emotions with a bite of her toast.

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**_Hope you liked this chapter guys, I know I liked writing it. So AJ and Punk's relationship is developing, who knows what will happen next! Review if you read, it'd be awesome to hear from all of you. Have a nice day :)_**


	17. Chapter 16

_Sorry it's been so long guys! I was really busy and then had a bit of writers block, and didn't want to upload anything I didn't think was good enough. I hope this chapter was worth the wait and I hope to update regularly again. Hope you all enjoy (^-^)_

* * *

After they'd finished their meal, Punk paid the waiter what they owed and they headed outside and back into the city. AJ walked along humming her own entrance music as they ventured up the quiet streets and back into the main city. The roads were busy with cars and taxis taking people to their urgent locations. The roadsides were strung with stores, all stores that were calling AJ's name. She looked up at Punk with her glistening brown eyes.

"What?" He moaned as he shifted about on his feet, trying hard not to admire her so much.

"Can we go shopping?" She said, batting her eyelashes at him as he looked rather grumpy.

Punk lifted his hand and ran it down his face, clearly showing he didn't think it'd be a good idea.

"Pleaseeeeee?" She begged further.

He rolled his eyes at her dramatically, pulling his best zombie facial expressions. "Fine whatever. As long as you don't spend hours trying on a load of shit."

AJ had lost all control as she'd spotted a Hot Topic up the road a little. Without even listening to a word Punk was saying, she grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him down to the crossing. He trailed along behind her, before wriggling free of her grip as they waited for the traffic lights to change. She was swaying gently, admiring the store across the road, not being able to wait to get inside. As soon as the little green man began to flash she was across the street in seconds and skipping down the other side.

They got inside the store and AJ's eyes lit up for the first time in weeks. It almost made Punk happy to see AJ smile since the accident with Corey. The assistant standing by the door greeted them both and handed AJ a basket, she could obviously tell AJ wanted to do some serious shopping. AJ spotted a rack of brightly coloured shirts and walked straight towards them, a smile beaming across her face. Punk trailed behind, a bored aroma already being exerted from his being. He stood around whilst AJ marched backwards and forwards to the nearest mirror, holding all sorts of things up against herself. She would pull such strange faces, before returning each item of clothing back to its original place.

"I think I'm going to try on some dresses!" She finally proclaimed.

"Okay, make sure you pick one and stick with it, I wanna get out of here." Punk moaned.

AJ picked up a brightly coloured floral dress. At a first glance it looked real girly, but up close you would seem to notice a few patterned sugar skulls mixed into the design. It shone that total punk chic look that AJ always seemed to support. She skipped off towards the changing room, glancing behind her several times to check Punk was following along.

He leant up against the door frame, scrolling through the twitter feed on his phone whilst he waited for AJ to come out. He rolled his eyes at all the immature comments left for him on his account and sighed at some people's lack of grammar. Suddenly he saw some feet appear in his view, and looked up only to have his breath taken away. AJ stood before him, smiling shyly and fumbling about with the bottom of the dress. Punk couldn't believe how amazing she looked. He admired how the dress hugged her petite figure perfectly, puffing out around her legs. She looked just like the AJ he remembered, not this sad little girl he'd been hanging around with the night before.

"How do I look?" She asked insecurely.

"Meh, it's nice." Punk replied, trying not to show too much enthusiasm.

AJ pulled an unsure look; she turned to the mirror and began to study all her flaws. She tilted her head, letting her loosely curled hair fall over her shoulder and down her torso. She put her hands on her waist and tried pushing inwards, making herself look just that little bit skinnier. She bit her lip nervously and turned around, looking at her own legs and butt, wondering if she suited the dress at all.

It didn't take long before Punk stepped in front of the mirror and turned AJ around to face him, bending down a little and holding her shoulders. "AJ stop." He said sternly. He looked her directly in the eyes and stopped her from pulling away. "You look fine, stop fussing. Just go buy the damn thing; I promise you, you look fine." Punk said calmly, giving AJ a reassuring look.

She smiled slightly, "You really think so?"

"I'm not going to say it again." He said, trying not to damage his pride.

She let a smile cross her face and wrapped her arms around CM Punk suddenly, "Thank you." She whispered into his ear. He smiled over her shoulder and hugged her back awkwardly.

They walked over to the cashier's desk and AJ placed the dress on the counter. She watched as the woman folded it into a neat pile and placed it in a labelled bag. She smiled at AJ, "That'll be $40 please."

AJ went to open her bag when Punk pulled out his wallet, "Here, let me get this." He said, half smiling at her whilst handing the cash over to the woman behind the desk. She pulled a semi shocked face and smiled at AJ, "You've got a great boyfriend." She complimented. Before Punk could open his mouth to correct the confident cashier, AJ replied "He's just the best" looking up at Punk and smiling lovingly. He chose to revert his eyes to the cashier machine and wait for the receipt.

* * *

AJ swung the shopping bags as she strolled down the street beside Punk. She felt like a new woman, like nothing could bother her…until the reminder on her phone bleeped. She reached into her back pocket and pulled it out, staring at the screen blankly.

"What's up?" Punk asked feeling slightly worried about AJ falling back down into her dark hole.

"It's visiting time at the hospital…I should go." She said frantically, trying to turn back down the street before Punk grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"AJ I'm not letting you go back there, he doesn't need you. Just…stay." Punk said. He was finding it rather awkward asking AJ to stay with him. It was, of course, for her own good but he felt as though it seemed like he needed her, which he certainly didn't.

"Punk I – "

"Stay." Punk argued.

AJ sighed heavily. She realised staying with Punk was what she wanted most, but she knew if Corey found out, he'd be extremely mad. Then again, he wouldn't find out.

"Okay." She sighed again. "But can you buy me ice-cream?" She asked half-heartedly.

"If I knew you'd cost me this much money I would have made you go." He joked, realising AJ wasn't getting it. "Yeah, c'mon then."

They found a nearby ice-cream parlour and Punk bought AJ a cone of her favourite, mint chocolate chip ice-cream. They sat outside on the cold metal seats whilst AJ ate her ice-cream happily. She proceeded to bite the cone delicately until she'd finished the entire thing.

"Punk, I don't want to make myself your problem…" AJ began.

"Save it AJ." He interrupted. "I don't want any of this sappy shit, I'm helping out a friend, that's all."

AJ looked down at her converse and shuffled her feet. "Yeah, a friend." She responded under her breath.

It started to get late so the two of them walked back to Punk's bus. They made jokes along the way as the night closed in on them. Punk desperately tried not to make jokes that he thought would hurt AJ's feelings, and AJ tried not to be too sappy with Punk.

They reached the bus and stood before each other, as if it was the end of a first date. Punk awkwardly shifted on his feet, and AJ fiddled with her hands.

"You need to stay another night?" Punk asked, desperately trying not to hold eye contact for too long.

"Well, I mean I can go if you want, but I don't really have anywhere else to go…" AJ replied sadly.

"No I mean, it's not a problem if you want to…" He raised his hand and began to run his fingers through his hair.

Luckily, Kofi had heard them outside the bus and came down to the door to stop the awkward moment. He pressed the button and opened the doors for them to come inside. "Welcome you guys! Are you gonna stand out there forever?" He laughed. They entered together and sat down on opposite sofas. Kofi went on to the kitchen, "Either of you want a drink or something?" He asked, bending down to the fridge.

"I'll take a pepsi." Punk replied. Kofi threw one in his direction shortly after. He got out a protein shake for himself and leant against the counter, engaging himself with the two.

"So, we have a house guest?" He asked, spreading a smile across his face and looking from AJ to Punk. Deep down Kofi was really hoping to see AJ and Punk rekindle what they once had. He knew how happy AJ had made his best friend, and Punk had truly been miserable since she'd left. Maybe now they'd finally have time to set things right with Corey out the way.

"I'll only be here until I can find somewhere to stay; the hospital won't let me stay in Corey's room." AJ replied, reminding Kofi she was in fact in a relationship.

Punk shuddered at the sound of Corey's name.

Kofi nodded slowly. "Well, I'm off to bed anyway, me and Miz had a rad night and its stolen all my energy. I'll be getting up early, just so you both know. Goodnight." Kofi smiled and left the two of them alone.

AJ got up and headed over to the small kitchen space. "He's always in a good mood, isn't he?" She laughed.

"Yeah, it sickens me." Punk joked.

"Can I get a glass of water?" AJ asked politely.

Punk nodded and she opened the cupboard above the small sink. She fumbled around looking for a small glass when she came across some brightly coloured notes hidden inside one at the back. She pulled them out and began to read them, much to Punk's dismay. He arose from the sofa quickly, ready to take them from her.

"I can't believe you kept these." AJ said, a little shocked.

"I…what…I don't even know what they are." Punk lied, turning away from AJ.

She chuckled a little. "Don't play dumb with me CM Punk. You forget I've known you better than most. I know you have a little bit of sentiment deep down inside that cold heart of yours." She said softly, clutching the notes she'd written to Punk in her hands.

"Yeah well…" He had no excuse, she'd caught him out.

She laughed a little more and put them down on the counter, proceeding to get a glass and fill it with water. Punk sat back down on the sofa, clasping his hands together. He didn't know what else to say, where should he even start when having a conversation with an ex?

"I'm sorry for leaving you that day Punk. I thought I was doing you a favour."

Punk looked up at her and watched as she moved back over to the sofa; sitting down beside him and placing the glass back up onto the counter beside her.

"Yeah well, it doesn't matter now anyway." He replied, looking down at the floor. She kicked her shoes off and crossed her legs. Tilting her head, she admired his profile and forgot about Corey for a while.

"Thanks for letting me stay here, I don't know what I'd do without you, I guess that's the truth huh?" She laughed slightly.

_Punk waited for AJ to place her glass down before playfully tackling her and taking her in a headlock._

"_What are you gonna do now huh? What are you gonna do!" He growled playfully._

_AJ giggled loudly and did her best to wrestle out of Punk's grip. She rolled around on the sofa a bit, trying to pull her head out of his grasp. Eventually she managed to get herself free, sitting up and poking her tongue out at her boyfriend._

"_I am just too good for the infamous CM Punk." She teased, batting her eyelids and acting out a victory win. Suddenly Punk speared her down onto her back, and lay on top of her, trying not to crush her fragile frame._

"_But the infamous CM Punk is too quick for you." He boasted. _

_This time she didn't even try and stop him, but instead turned her head and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, smiling back at him._

"_Ugh gross." He joked, retreating back and sitting up on the sofa away from AJ._

"_You love me really." AJ said, winking at him._

"_More like you wish." Punk replied, rolling his eyes. _

_AJ laughed a little more and scooted over beside him; resting her head on his shoulder and letting her hair cascade down his back. _

"_You may be hard on tv, but I can always get to your soft side." She said, looking up at him and giving him a smug look._

Punk watched as AJ reached for her glass, taking the final sips before placing the empty glass back on the side. She then took her phone out of her pocket and turned it off, without checking her messages or reminders at all.

"Seeing as Kofi is here, you'll have to share my bed again." Punk told her, biting his lip.

"That's alright." AJ smiled.

They walked into the bedroom together, Punk clutching his phone and AJ following along, carrying her shopping bags. She placed them down over the free side of the bed and took her jeans off right before him, desperately trying to pull the comic book tee over her butt. As it was quite small it didn't really work well, but AJ didn't mind. Punk tried real hard not to stare, but she looked so good. He turned away as he felt he had to, not understand how confident AJ was just to change before him. He grabbed some basketball shorts from the floor and headed for the bathroom.

AJ meanwhile clambered into the bed and plumped up her own pillow. She looked around the room to see framed limited edition comics hanging on the walls with piles of clothes and exercise gear under them. Punk was never usually a slob, but it didn't bother AJ either way.

He came back to the room to find AJ snuggled down with the covers pulled up over her petite body. AJ admired his tattooed torso as he walked topless over to the other side of the bed, getting under the covers gingerly. She watched as half of him disappeared under, as he turned away from her, turning the light off before letting his head hit the pillow.

"Punk?" AJ whispered.

"What." He grumbled, rolling over to face her.

"You…you mean a lot to me." She said, before planting a soft kiss on his cheek and rolling back over, snuggling down to sleep.

Punk was left rather stunned, his heart beating unnaturally fast. A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he rolled back over, staring at the closet.


	18. Chapter 17

The next morning Punk awoke to the sound of the wind howling through the bus as Kofi opened the door and slammed it behind him. He lifted himself up and pressed his back against the wall, looking over to the empty space beside him. Looking around the room frantically he noticed all his clothes had gone from the floor and his exercise gear was in a small pile in the corner. He threw back the covers and headed for the closet, grabbing a labelled tee and throwing it over his head and onto his torso. Still a little unsure where AJ had gone, he headed for the kitchen to get a drink, hoping he'd find her somewhere in the bus.

Kofi had headed out for his usual morning jog, keeping in top shape for all his upcoming matches. Usually he would invite Punk to come with him, but he knew he was dealing with a lot with AJ, and didn't want to pressure him too much. The last thing he needed was a grouchy CM Punk.

AJ walked down the halls of Corey's hospital wing. The doctors had rang her early that morning to tell her they had brought Corey out of the deep sleep as his injuries were healing quickly and he wouldn't be in a lot of pain. She didn't know if she was excited or scared to see him. Her arms were folded, her fists clenched and her stomach turning over and over inside her. She gulped hard as she came up towards the door of his room. She peered around inside and saw a few doctors checking a machine that was wired up into Corey's hand. She bit her lip as she saw him shuffle in the bed, he was awake. The doctors left the room in a line, with the last female nurse squeezing AJ's arm, "You can go see him now." She said, smiling sympathetically.

Slowly AJ entered the room, staring straight at Corey. The swelling around his eyes was completely reduced, leaving slight purple bruising underneath them. She saw him roll over slightly as he smiled limply at her.

"What's up AJ, haven't seen you properly in a long time." He said softly, crinkling his face up a little as he moved under the piercing white hospital sheets. AJ quickly took to the seat beside the bed, bringing it in closer and placing her hands on the edge. "How are you feeling?" She asked feeling rather sick.

Corey took hold of her hand, "Well, everything aches." He laughed slightly, "I guess I only have one person to thank for that huh."

AJ glanced down at the floor. "Yeah but we can forget about what happened now can't we? It was just a silly misunderstanding." She pressed.

Corey looked at her, rather shocked. "AJ, baby, a silly misunderstanding? That jackass put me in hospital with the worst injuries I've ever suffered. Of course this isn't just a silly misunderstanding. I think he even hit me with a bat or something? All I know is I was knocked out cold."

AJ thought about how she had hit Corey, and slowly the entire blame was shifting towards Punk.

"I think you should just be glad you're alive, right?" She said, squeezing his hand to stop herself from running away. The room fell silent for a while, with neither of them knowing exactly what to say.

"So, where have you been staying? I know they wouldn't let you stay here, I'm sorry about that, it must have been hard for you seeing me in this state."

"You bet." AJ said half heartedly. "Well, I've been here and there, trying to keep myself busy, coming to see you a lot." She lied through her formerly innocent lips.

"It must have been awful for you. Don't worry, they said I can go home soon, just two more days in here and then I'm cleared, and trust me, as soon as I'm medically cleared by McMahon, I'll sort out the issues with Punk for the both of us, because I mean…"

"NO!" AJ shouted uncontrollably. Then she closed in on herself, and brought her legs up onto the chair. Corey looked so confused, and slightly angry. The monitor beside them both began to pick up the pace, bleeping more regularly than usual.

"AJ…what do you mean? You're not…on his side are you?" Corey raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, no Corey, I just don't want any more trouble." AJ whimpered with a vulnerable look in her eyes.

He smiled at her, and brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing it gently. "Don't worry babe, I'll sort it all out. They said two more days then I can come home alright? So don't worry, just try and stay away from him okay? Since I won't be around for you."

AJ nodded, pulling her hand away. "Well I should go; I'll need to shop if you're coming home." She got up from the chair and headed for the door, waving at him a little before leaving without allowing him a final word.

She walked briskly down the corridor, heading for the nearest fire exit hoping to get some fresh air before she herself had to be admitted into a hospital.

"He really cares about you, you know." Called out a voice from behind her.

AJ took her hand off of the quick release bar on the door and turned around to see a dainty blonde nurse a little way down the hall.

"You're AJ, right? He always asks about you, you were the first person he asked for when he woke up." She said cheerily. AJ swallowed hard.

"You're really lucky, you know. I wish I had someone like him."

AJ smiled falsely and turned back around, pushing the exit open, "No, no you really don't." She muttered to herself.

She knew she had to go back to Punk's bus to collect her things, but she wasn't too sure if she could face him right now. He'd want to know where she'd been, and probably want to know why she was once again running away. She was planning on taking her stuff back to New Jersey, collecting Nacho from her mum and moving back into her house, flying out to Raw and Smackdown whenever she was needed. She knew that the WWE would be passing through NJ tomorrow, but she didn't like the idea of travelling one more day on Punk's bus, just in case Corey did find out.

As AJ walked away from the hospital, she thought about going back and telling Corey everything, about how she really was on Punk's side, and in fact she thought she might be in love with him again, but that'd be such a ridiculous thing to say, wouldn't it?

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_I am so sorry I haven't written in forever guys! I had a lot of studying and a lot of exams, but now I'm done so I hope to be writing more frequently. This is just a short chapter I've written to ensure you all this story is far from over, and I will be updating again with a longer chapter TODAY, to make up for all the time I've missed. Enjoy :)_


	19. Chapter 18

AJ got a taxi back to where Punk's bus was at, with the intentions of getting her stuff and making her way back to New Jersey. She walked up to the bus doors and knocked loudly, hoping he wouldn't be doing anything too major and could open the door quickly. She didn't want to have to explain herself, she just wanted to get her stuff and get out.

"Where did you go?" Punk questioned her as she pushed past him and into the bedroom. Picking up one of the shopping bags she'd got, she began to put some of her other stuff into it, like hair ties and the comic book tee she'd slept in the night before, forgetting it was Punk's.

"AJ are you gonna answer me?" He pressed, getting more and more agitated.

She continued to get her stuff together, glancing around the room a few times to make sure she hadn't left anything behind. She then began huffing as she tried to squish everything into one bag when suddenly Punk grabbed her arm and spun her round to face him.

"Um…can I get an answer?" He said angrily.

"I was at the hospital. Corey is awake and will be coming home in two days."

Her words slapped Punk around the face, he expected her to be out getting the groceries, not visiting her damaged boyfriend he'd forgotten about. AJ stared at him for a moment before folding her arms.

"I'm sorry, Punk." She managed.

He broadened his shoulders, standing up tall. "Sorry for what?" He moaned as if he didn't have a care in the world for her.

AJ shrugged, she could tell there was something on his mind, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was. Trying to forget about it, she grabbed the shopping bag and headed out of the bedroom, dodging Punk before he could say anything else to her.

"You don't have to do this AJ." He called out after her. She stopped in the doorway of the lounge, putting her bag down onto the small sofa before turning to face him.

"Do what?" She asked nervously.

"Run away again." He gulped.

AJ stared towards the ground, not understanding what Punk wanted.

"I mean, so what if Corey can come home, how can you forget everything he's done to you? You don't have to go back to him you know, just because he can come home, you don't have to be there waiting for him."

AJ began to try and understand how she felt. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, and how she could tell Punk what she was feeling right now. He continued to bash at Corey, hoping he would soon stop as his words began to cut through her heart.

"What do you want from me!?" She screamed, leaving Punk speechless. He shook his head slightly, watching as tears formed in AJ's eyes.

"What do you want from me Punk?" She wept, holding her hands up to her face and pawing at her cheeks. He had nothing to say to her, he didn't know how to respond.

"Forgive me Punk, I've been a little fucked up in the head I know. I know I've played you, and I know you've felt a million different things for me, I know." She said softly through her tearful huffs.

Punk went to open his mouth, to put some things right but she stopped him. "What we once had, well we had it all didn't we? Proved some people wrong huh?" She paused, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve and smiling slightly, "I was a fool for you, and you know that, and I think that's what's got you caught up, huh?"

Punk kept shaking his head, not understanding what she was saying; refusing to believe some of what she was saying was true.

"Am I annoying you, offending you maybe? I…I think you need to hear this Punk, I really do, but the thing is, I can't bring myself to say it, because I'm with Corey, but I know you want to hear it."

Punk could see how worked up AJ was getting. He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms as she let her head drop, her hair covering all visual angles of her face. Punk just looked, stared at this broken woman he held slightly. She eventually raised her head, looking straight into his emerald eyes, looking down at his lips then back up again.

Punk sighed, the scent of AJ's cute perfume surrounding him. He understood what she meant, and he knew he couldn't take it upon himself to show her any affection, even if he felt he needed to.

AJ couldn't tell him she loved him, because she felt as though she owed it to Corey to be loyal, and Punk didn't know how to make her see that everything Corey had done to her was wrong, and she owed him nothing. Was that for selfish reasons? Did he just want her to realise this so they could make out once more and he could forget everything? No. It was beginning to dawn on him that he actually cared about her, as much as he wished he didn't. AJ brought such havoc into his life, but there was no denying he was in love with her, although he tended to hide it from the world. Similarly, the same went for AJ. She'd been in love with Punk the entire time, but she knew that if she admitted that, her whole world would come crashing down. She'd have to tell Corey, make him leave and then go back to Punk, facing the critics and the enemies she'd make along the way, and there was the fact that she didn't know if she could face being with him, could she live with herself if she went running back into his arms?

AJ sniffed up her remaining sadness and chose to push Punk away from her. "You'll always be the love of my life, okay?" Her final words as she picked up her bags and left. Punk stood in the same position, once again watching her slip away, but this time he couldn't hide anything. Usually he'd deny any emotion, that was just his personality, but this time he was frozen with his sadness, his face looking restless and his emerald eyes missing their glimmer.

Closing his eyes and pressing his hands to his face, he fell to the sofa, sighing heavily as he brought his hands back down to his lap, clenching his fists. At that moment, a stunned Kofi entered the bus after seeing AJ running down the street, knowing this had once again ended badly.

As he walked into the lounge he found Punk staring up at the ceiling, fists clenched still. He sat on the sofa opposite, leaning forward slightly, trying to find the right thing to say.

"Hey man."

"What." Punk snapped.

"Calm down, before I even say anything else."

Punk slammed one fist against his leg, bringing his head down to look at the floor. "I'm calm." He grouched.

The silence got louder, before Kofi made the bold decision in saying, "Is she even worth it anymore man?"

Punk bit his lip before looking up at Kofi. "Of course not." He said, shaking his head.

"Then why are you so caught up on her?" Kofi said sympathetically.

"Honestly…I don't know." For once in his life, Punk felt slightly weak, but tried to fight it.

"Dude, if you want to get this girl, and keep her, you should probably do something about her good for nothing boyfriend who appears to be back on the scene, or so I've heard." Kofi said.

Punk thought for a moment, before realising even if he didn't go after AJ for personal reasons, he needed to save her from Corey before things began to go sour again. "You're right. All I'm gonna do is try and be a good friend, right?"

"Right!" Kofi enthused.

Punk nodded his head slightly, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

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_Update coming soon guys, hope you are all still enjoying. Feel free to review and let me know what you think. Also, I want to say thanks to all the new readers and people that follow / favourite this fic, really means a lot :)_


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